BBC Worldwide Americas have licensed online apparel distributor CafePress to sell official Doctor Who merchandise.

The viewing figure for last Saturday's premiere of Asylum of the Daleks on BBC America has been released, indicating that over 1.5 million tuned in to watch the Doctor's latest adventure with his arch-enemy - giving the episode the highest audience for Doctor Who on the channel so far!

BBC America reported:

The figure comfortably overtook the previous highest rating of 1.268m achieved by last year's series opener, The Impossible Astronaut.

A prequel to Asylum of the Daleks written by Steven Moffat has been made available to season pass subscribers on the North American iTunes store and Amazon Instant Video. The prequel can also be found on YouTube via unofficial sources.
Dalek operator, Barnaby Edwards, plays the mysterious hooded stranger who informs the Doctor - via a dream message - that his help is required and that he must meet Darla Von Karlsen on Skaro.

The synopsis for the prequel is:

BBC America will be broadcasting a Series 6 marathon during the day of the premiere of Asylum of the Daleks, which airs at 9pm ET. The full schedule of Doctor Who episodes on BBCA can be found here.

BBC America now has an official Twitter account for Doctor Who on BBC America. You can follow updates @DoctorWho_BBCA.

Nerdist

BBC America's Nerdist YouTube channel has a weekend of special videos about Doctor Who to celebrate the new series. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Steven Moffat will take part in Chris Hardwick's All Star Celebrity Bowling tomorrow [31st].

The Nerdist recently aired a "Tribute to Time Traval" episode on BBC America which featured the cast of Doctor Who playing a version of Cranium called Skull.

BBC America have released a short video covering highlights from their preview of Asylum of the Daleks last weekend.

BBC America has released videos of famous Doctor Who fans - including tenth Doctor (David Tennant - talking about their first memories of Doctor Who. Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist has appealed to fans asking them to tweet about the first time they experienced Doctor Who using the hashtag #newtoWHO.


Asylum of the Daleks premieres on BBC America on September 1st at 9/8c.

The new series of Doctor Who will premiere on Saturday 1st September, with the show being broadcast on BBC One in the UK at 7:20pm, and on BBC America in the USA at 9:00pm(ET).

United Kingdom (BBC):

For the UK, this places Asylum of the Daleks into the heart of Saturday prime time television, going head to head against the Ant and Dec ITV game show Red or Black?. The Doctor has faced the Geordie duo before, most notably for the return of the series in 2005 when Rose beat Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway by 2.5 million viewers. The Doctor faced Red or Black? last year when ITV1's HD ratings helped Red or Black? edge slightly ahead of Doctor Who, although the latter outrated the game show for the period the programmes were in direct opposition.

On BBC Two the Doctor will be up against BBC Proms 2012 where conductor John Wilson and his orchestra pay tribute to the composers and arrangers responsible for creating the Broadway Sound; meanwhile Channel 4 continues its coverage of the Paralympic Games.

The series will be preceded by a new mini-adventure, Pond Life, which kicks off online from Monday 27th August.

The time of broadcast for Asylum of the Daleks of 7.20pm is one of the latest for the series since it returned in 2005, with only Gridlock in 2007, School Reunion, and Rise of the Cybermen in 2006 being later in the evening.

Trivia: the Daleks have been used to launch the show a few times in its past, with Day of the Daleks in 1972, Destiny of the Daleks in 1979, and Remembrance of The Daleks in 1988 - Destiny also coincidentally premiered on 1st September!

United States (BBC America):

For BBC America, the premiere forms part of the channel's Supernatural Saturday themed evening.
The full press release can be read on BBC America's website. Meanwhile, BBC America have also released a new trailer to promote the series:


The announcement of 1st September confirms that the trailer witnessed by viewers earlier in the week citing the 8th as the launch was accidentally broadcast rather than being the finalised date.

Canada (SPACE):

SPACE have also confirmed a 1st September premiere, at 9:00pm(ET).

Speculation continues over the launch date of the new series of Doctor Who, which, despite a number of Internet expectations, has yet to be confirmed by the BBC.

The return of the series was originally anticipated in the UK for the August Bank Holiday weekend, based upon the pattern of preview screenings of Let's Kill Hitler at the BFI and Edinburgh last year; this date had also been suggested by a number of US media outlets, though it seems that these reports were picked up through fan enthusiasm rather than official sources, especially with BBC America having already announced their series of four Doctor Who documentary specials over the August weekends. Also, when asked at the Asylum of the Daleks screening last week lead writer Steven Moffat would only indicate that the show will return "soon".

With the the 25th August ruled out, focus turned to the 1st September. BBC America have devoted an entire day to Doctor Who, showing the entirety of last year's series plus The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe - the latter's scheduling of two hours (8-10pm) suggested that perhaps there was a missing programme to show at 9pm. The date was also reinforced by iTunes listing the series as being available from 1st September. However, early morning viewers were treated to a trailer on BBC America earlier this week which specifically mentioned an on air date of the 8th September - however, the channel has now reverted to trailers saying the series is coming soon. It is unsure whether the trailer was a mistake or if BBC America jumped the gun on an announcement.

Meanwhile, in the UK the new edition of listings magazine Radio Times announces that "Doctor Who is back!", with the next issue (1-7 Sep) promising a free Dalek wallchart, plus interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat - the latter also providing an episode guide to the new series. However, the magazine has in recent months carried a number of front-covers/coverage of new shows that aren't necessarily in the week of publication so it isn't clear-cut that Doctor Who will premiere in the UK on the 1st September, and the show is currently absent from the BBC Media Pack for that week, implying the series may have a later debut.


As soon as the date is confirmed it will be reported by Doctor Who News.

The demand for tickets for the upcoming New York preview of Asylum of the Daleks has been heavy enough to cause major problems for the ticketing site, where all 800 available tickets were sold in less than twenty minutes.

The special showing will take place at New York’s Ziegfeld Theater on August 25 followed by a live Q&A session with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and executive producer Caroline Skinner. Tickets were sold for the princely sum of 11c, plus a small service charge.

Comic Mix reports that shortly after the ticket release, the purchase system slowed to a crawl, with access severely limited. The site’s customer service number was also jammed as people attempted to see if aborted transactions resulted in a sale or not.

BBC America has apologized that the process didn’t go as smoothly as it could have done but have said they are pleased the event was so popular with fans.

The new Doctor Who series is due to launch on BBC America in early September, but no date has yet been officially confirmed.

BBC America have announced that they will host a special screening of the new series opener, Asylum of the Daleks on Saturday 25th August.

The event will take place in New York City at 6:00pm, and will be followed by a live Q&A session with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and executive producer Caroline Skinner.