John Barrowman appeared on tonight's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, during which he discussed how Torchwood was responsible for him gaining his forthcoming role in the US series Desperate Housewives. When asked about for future of Captain Jack himself:
He went on to speak about meeting Matt Smith:
Jonathan Ross also confirmed that Matt Smith would be appearing on his show in a few weeks time.

The show is available on the BBC iplayer for the next seven days.

The BBC has confirmed our story from yesterday that David Tennant and Catherine Tate will return to Radio 2 on Saturday morning when they once more stand in for Jonathan Ross.

It will be the third time the duo have stood in for the presenter, hosting the three hour radio show. This weeks guests include Anthony Head, who appeared in the Series 2 story School Reunion playing Mr Finch, Ricky Gervais and the rock band La Roux.

We understand the programme was recorded on Friday and will not be live. Radio 2 can be heard around the world via the BBC Website. The programme begins at 1000 GMT.

Update. The programme has now aired and can be heard for the next seven days on the BBC iPlayer.

The Northampton Chronicle reports that the five-inch model of new Doctor, Matt Smith, has completely sold out. Shops across the actor's home county have reported queues of people trying to obtain the figure. The paper quotes Smith's mother, Lynne Smith, as saying how amazed she was at the likeness of the model to her son. "It was fabulous to see his first model, it was really exciting for us all."

Comedian and Big Finish actor Charlie Ross has launched a Facebook campaign to try to get Bernard Cribbins 1960s hit song "Right Said Fred" back into the UK charts. Ross said "After the campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas number one here in the UK, I thought this was firstly a fitting tribute to Bernard following his wonderful performance in The End Of Time and also it would be a lot of fun!"

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Day One of Torchwood: Children of Earth delivered a record audience for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's digital channel ABC2. The first episode had 190,000 viewers, including time-shifted viewers.

The BBC has released a new image on the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith. The image is available on the BBC Website along with an image of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The new picture forms the basis for the cover to the revamped Doctor Who Magazine which is available in the United Kingdom from today.

The magazine confirms the writers for Matt Smith's first series as the Doctor.

Lead writer Steven Moffat will write six of the thirteen episodes. He will be joined by Chris Chibnall who is writing two episodes and Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, Gareth Roberts, Richard Curtis and Simon Nye all writing one episode each.

Toby Whithouse wrote the Series Two story School Reunion which saw the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9 to the series. He has also written for Torchwood and created Being Human for BBC Three.

Chris Chibnall wrote the Series Three story 42. He was head writer on Torchwood and has also written for Life on Mars.

Mark Gatiss is one of only three people to have both written and appeared in Doctor Who. He wrote The Unquiet Dead for Series One and The Idiot's Lantern for Series Two. He later went on to appear in the Third Series story The Lazarus Experiment.

Gareth Roberts wrote The Shakespeare Code for Series Three and The Unicorn and the Wasp for Series Four. He co-wrote Planet of the Dead with Russell T Davies. He has also written for The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Neither Simon Nye or Richard Curtis have written for Doctor Who before. Nye was the creator of the long running sitcom Men Behaving Badly, which was based on his first novel, for which he won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award and a Royal Television Society Award. He adapted The Railway Children for television in 2000 and has written many pantomimes. Curtis, whose contribution to the series was announced in September, was Oscar nominated for Four Weddings and a Funeral and is the man behind many British comedy films and sitcoms.

Following the regeneration of David Tennant into Matt Smith, a section of the official BBC Website has been re-branded complete with exclusive preview of the new series.

The promo, which is now also on the BBC YouTube Channel, has no spoilers from The End of Time.



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The new Radio Times marks Matt Smith out as one of the ten people to watch in 2010. In the magazine, new executive producer Steven Moffat tells why viewers will be transfixed by Smith's portrayal of The Doctor. He describes him as a strong quiet man who conveys gravitas perfectly. "His most powerful moments are when he is very very quiet. in a way that a very powerful person can be... It's all implied strength rather than demonstrated bluster."

Moffat describes Smith as very much the 'nutty professor' Doctor whom the camera adores. "You'll be seeing a lot of that face, suffering, in close-up."

Smith's first series as the Doctor is due to be aired in the UK in the spring.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate today stood in for Jonathan Ross on his Radio 2 show.

Guests included Bernard Cribbins and fifth Doctor Peter Davison.

The programme is available worldwide via the BBC iplayer for the next seven days.

In the run up to The End of Time on Christmas Day, the Doctor Who repeats on BBC Three have been scoring high ratings. Tuesday's showing of The Next Doctor had 0.54 million watching, making it the tenth highest-rated multichannel programme for the day. Wednesday's repeat of Planet of the Dead did even better, with 0.69 million watching and was the second highest-rated multichannel programme of the day. The 7pm slot has no inheritance, being the first programme on BBC Three for the day, meaning the audience steadily rose throughout the episode with 850,000 watching by the end.

Meanwhile the BBC has revealed that Planet of the Dead was the ninth most-watched programme of the year on the BBC iPlayer, with 811,800 requests. Torchwood: Children of Earth Part 1 was thirteenth with 559,800 requests. The top programme was Top Gear. The BBC iPlayer has its second birthday on Christmas Day, and is now available on more than 20 different devices.

Torchwood: Children of Earth comes to Australia in January, with the series making its debut on ABC2 on Friday 8th January 2010.

Unlike its original showing in the UK the series will be shown on a weekly basis at 8.30pm.

Children of Earth was first shown in Australia on UKTV in July, the same month as it recieved its premier in the UK and North America.