With attention on the outgoing Doctor with the press launch of The Waters of Mars, incoming Executive producer Steven Moffat has been talking about the new series currently being filmed with new Doctor Matt Smith. Interviewed by Ben Cooke, at the Screenwriters' Festival in Cheltenham, Moffat described Smith as simply "the best". "He's all the things you'd expect, including ancient," and described the new Doctor as "someone you can't take your eyes off". Moffat confirmed he will be writing six episodes of the new series.
A full transcript can be found at Digital Spy


Meanwhile outgoing Doctor David Tennant will be a guest on next Monday's Graham Norton show on BBC One. Tennant has also been talking to PBS about his new role as host of Masterpiece Contemporary.

Steve Roberts of the DVD Restoration team has been giving details of the processes involved in returning colour to Doctor Who stories which currently only exist in black and white. Speaking at an event sponsored by the Doctor Who Information Network. Roberts talked about work being done on the Mind of Evil as well as discussing future plans for the classic range with all complete stories due for release by November 2013, the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. He confirmed there are no plans for any further animated restorations of lost episodes, nor any plans to issue any more partial stories.

John Barrowman has been sitting in for Elaine Paige on her Sunday afternoon BBC Radio 2 show. He read out an e-mail asking if he knew if Torchwood was coming back or not. He said that they were currently 'in negotiations' and that he hoped Torchwood would be back some time in the future. Barrowman has released his new memoirs I Am What I Am, which covers the last three years and includes behind the scenes secrets and gossip from the sets of Doctor Who and Torchwood, complete with behind the scenes photos of the cast.

Finally, obits for Barry Letts have now been posted in the Independent as well as on the BBC Doctor Who site. As reported below, it was confirmed at the press launch that The Waters of Mars will be dedicated to Letts.

As previously reported here on the Doctor Who News Page, the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter has officially launched its new competition for young fans to design a TARDIS console. The contest is for children aged between 6 and 12, and the final winning design will be chosen by Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith. It is specified that the design "must incorporate household objects," and entrants are advised to "make sure it really feels as if the Doctor has put it together."

Full details are available on the Blue Peter website.

Catherine Tate has won the Portal Award for Best Actress on Television for her portrayal of Donna Noble. Tate beat Mary McDonnell of Battlestar Galactica to the top position in the awards which have run since 1999 and are voted on by thousands of readers. It is the first time Doctor Who has won one of the major acting awards.

David Tennant was runner up as Best Actor being beaten by Jensen Ackles of Supernatural. Billie Piper was runner up in the Best Guest Star Category with Turn Left coming second in the Best Episode category.

BBC America has announced in a press release that Torchwood: Children of Earth and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead helped the cable channel to its best ratings week:



The press release also confirms that BBC America has acquired the next season of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith as the Doctor. The series will air on BBC America in "Q2, 2010 following soon after its UK premiere"; "Q2" refers to the second quarter of the year, or April, May and March.

Final figures released by BARB put all five episodes of Torchwood – Children of Earth in the top twenty programmes of the week.

The figures include those who record the programme and watch it within one week. The highest charting episode was Day Four, which, with 6.76 million watching, was the 11th most watched programme of the week. If figures for the HD showing were included in the BBC1 figures, then Torchwood would have had a top ten place, with episode four beating Emmerdale. All five episodes achieved over 6 million viewers.

The series dominated the chart for the BBC HD channel with the five episodes of Torchwood taking the top eight places. Not only did the original five showings take the top five places, but the midnight repeats took places 6, 7 and 8.

The BBC Three repeats also fared well with all five episodes appearing in the top ten programmes for the week. All episodes had a final rating over double that of the initial overnight figure.



Meanwhile, in the United States, Multichannel News reports that the premiere episode of "Children of Earth" was watched by 1.4 million viewers on Monday, the highest ratings of any programme on BBC America.

(Thanks to poster "InigoMontoya" from Gallifrey Base.)

The chairman of the Harris Tweed Authority has praised the new Doctor for his costume; Domhnall Martainn described the jacket choice as an important and sensible decision, and hoped young people would be inspired to choose clothes made from the traditional cloth:Esquire Magazine editor Jeremy Langford:GQ Magazine contributor Andy Morris:

However, not everyone has been pleased. Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman commented:And Sara Nathan of the Sun:University of Westminster fashion course director Andrew Groves commented:


Additional costume reports and comments by: BBC Magazine, BBC News, The Age, Airlock Alpha, Digitial Spy, TV Squad, Herald

The media have been quick to act on the announcement of the first day's filming for the new series of Doctor Who.

The Daily Mail have published a selection of photographs of new Doctor Matt Smith and companion actress Karen Gillan on location, featuring the two leads along with what appears to be a new, slightly tweaked, police box prop for the TARDIS. The Metro has also published a photo of the two with the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, The Sun have also covered the filming, with a photo revealing a well-known guest star also appearing alongside the two time-travellers. Digital Spy reports a BBC spokesperson as confirming the person in question, whilst SFX, the London Paper and Holy Moly published more photos from the proceedings.




Scott Frankton has kindly provided a report on today's filming:


Finally, the BBC itself has acknowledged the interest fans and the audience have in the series, with entertainment correspondant Lizo Mzimba appearing on BBC News's E24 to discuss how popular the series remains, including the press in attendence for filming as shown in this video!

Torchwood: Children of Earth comes to North America this week, with the series being broadcast in Canada and the United States.

BBC America will be screening the series at 9pm Eastern time from Monday to Friday. The series has been given a 75 minute slot, meaning American viewers will see the full version of the episodes. The 10pm showing of BBC World News America has been shortened to accommodate the series. As well as the main episodes, BBC America will be showing a number of documentaries going behind the scenes of Torchwood. Each episode will be repeated several times throughout the day.

In Canada, The Space Channel, will be broadcasting the series at 10pm Eastern time, also in a 75 minute slot. The series is repeated at 2.15am the following day.

In addition Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead comes to Canada on Saturday, with The Space Channel broadcasting the episode at 9pm Eastern, followed by a repeat of The Next Doctor.

Torchwood: Children of Earth finished its impressive run on BBC One with an audience of 5.8 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures. Torchwood was the fourth most watched programme of the day with a share of 26.7%. It rated higher than Emmerdale and was beaten by EastEnders and Coronation Street.

With just sunday's figures to come, all five episodes of Torchwood are in the top twenty for the week.

Another 95,000 watched the episode in HD on BBC HD and 333,000 watched the late night repeat on BBC Three, the highest rating for the repeat all week. During the BBC Three showing, the channel had over twice as many viewers as its nearest rival.
The Appreciation Index for day four on BBC One was an amazing 91 and day five received an AI figure of 90.

TORCHWOOD UK OVERNIGHT RATINGS

Children of Earth	BBC One	BBC HD	BBC Three	iPlayer	AI
Day One	5.9 million - 25.8% share	97,000	214,000	tbc	88
Day Two	5.6 million - 24.0% share	82,000	282,000	tbc	90
Day Three	5.9 million - 27.1% share	105,000	225,000	tbc	90
Day Four	6.2 million - 27.0% share	82,000	232,000	tbc	91
Day Five	5.8 million -26.7% share	95,000	333,000	tbc	90
Overnight figures do not include those who record the programme and watch it on a subsequent day. Final figures, including those who timeshift the programme will be released by BARB in 10 days time.

Torchwood: Children of Earth slipped ahead of Emmerdale on Thursday night with unofficial overnight figures showing part Four was watched by 6.2 million viewers, the highest rating of the week so far. Torchwood was the second most watched programme of the day with the share remaining steady at 27.0%. It gave BBC One more than double the audience of ITV for the duration of the programme.

A further 82,000 watched in HD on the BBC HD channel, and 232,000 watched the repeat on BBC Three.

The Appreciation Index for Part Three was 90, by far the highest score for the day.

The South Wales Echo, The Stage and Broadcast have all published articles reflecting the success of Torchwood.