The Time of the Doctor Christmas special has been named the most watched programme in BBC America's history.

The 800th episode in the show's run attracted 2.47 million viewers overnight, the highest ever audience achieved on the channel, beating The Day of the Doctor's record of 2.4 million viewers.

It was however beaten by showings of The Big Bang Theory (3.96m) and Duck Dynasty (2.69m), all broadcast in a 9:00pm slot on cable.

The Farewell to Matt Smith special, broadcast before the incumbent's final adventure however, drew in a respectable audience of 1.54 million.

In the UK, Time was the second most watched on Christmas Day while becoming the eighth highest rated show of the day in Australia.

On Twitter, 183,550 tweets were generated, becoming the most tweeted show of the day on the social network and beating previous Christmas special The Snowmen's 64,049 total. Peter Capaldi's entrance, meanwhile, brought in 18,844 tweets.

With The Time of The Doctor nearly upon us, here is a roundup of videos associated with the episode, plus the currently known times of broadcast.

An extended video featuring two of the Eleventh Hour panels at the Doctor Who Celebration has been published on the BBC's 50 Years of Doctor Who website.

Filmed at the Excel in London on the 24th November and presented by Matthew Sweet, the panel brought together Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Steven Moffat and Nick Hurran following the celebratory broadcast of The Day of the Doctor. The team discussed the most notable scenes in the 50th anniversary special involving Tom Baker, past Doctors, the regeneration of John Hurt into Christopher Eccleston and the brief appearance of Peter Capaldi.

Teased was The Time of the Doctor Christmas special, which executive producer Steven Moffat described as Matt Smith's "finest ever performance as the Doctor and possibly the finest performance ever by a Doctor". Moffat also talked of a world without Doctor Who (also available as a separate YouTube video).

Set over the course of three days from November 22nd to the 24th at the Excel, the event saw fans from around the world and stars from the show attending the celebration in honour of the show as part of its anniversary weekend.

BBC Worldwide have today announced the host for the 2014 Australian and New Zealand tour of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular will be the fifth Doctor himself, Peter Davison.

The show runs in Melbourne from 31st January to 1st February before moving to Brisbane on 8th February and Wellington from 21st February to 22nd February.

Peter Davison, who played the Doctor for three years between 1981 and 1984, said todayJoining Davison will be conductor Ben Foster, who has conducted almost all of Murray Gold's music for the revived series since 2005. He also shared his delight in returning to the tour from his involvement last year:The content that will be performed in the live shows will include music spanning across the whole 50-year history of the show, many recent favourites as well as music from this years Christmas Special The Time of the Doctor.

The Press Association caught up with incoming Doctor Peter Capaldi at the Sky Women in Film & Television Awards in London on Friday, during which he reflected on becoming the long-lived Time Lord and of his predecessors in the role:
The actor was attending the event alongside the show's head writer Steven Moffat.

BBC America have now confirmed that they too will be broadcasting The Time of The Doctor on Christmas Day, in the primetime evening slot of 9:00pm EST/8:00 CST.

SPACE in Canada have yet to confirm their time, but it is expected that they will also broadcast the episode during the evening of the 25th.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has been talking to Radio Times about the future of the Doctor, given the character is now dangerously near the end of his regeneration cycle as spelled out in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin.

The story stated a Time Lord can only regenerate twelve times, and Moffat considers the Doctor is now in his thirteenth and final body. John Hurt is now officially a Doctor, sitting between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors, and David Tennant used up an extra regeneration during his stay. The writer was clear about the future, and how the Doctor is now at the end of his cycle - something that could cause problems when Matt Smith turns into Peter Capaldi in the 2013 Christmas episode. "The 12 regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology - science fiction is all about rules, you can't just casually break them.."

To add to the confusion and despite the number of bodies the Doctor has had, Moffat is clear that Matt Smith is still the Eleventh Doctor. He told a press conference at London's Excel arena that the addition of the John Hurt Doctor to the series does nothing to alter the numbering of the other incarnations.

"He's just The Doctor, Matt Smith's Doctor is the 11th Doctor, however there is no such character as the 11th Doctor – he’s just the Doctor – that's what he calls himself. The numbering doesn't matter, except for those lists that you and I have been making for many years. So I've given you the option of not counting John Hurt numerically - he's the War Doctor."

Moffat also talked of how he found it irresistible to put Tom Baker into the 50th Anniversary story. "Tom didn't want to come and do a long thing and he didn't want to put the old costume on. He didn't want to do any of that, but his agent said that he wasn't against the idea of doing a short appearance."

Baker was the longest-serving Doctor, appearing from 1974-1981. Moffat said it would have been impossible to include all the surviving Doctors in the episode. "You can't have scenes around 11 or 12 people - you can't do it. To have the longest-standing Doctor make an appearance and be the one who briefs the new Doctor on where to go . . . well, it's irresistible, isn't it? You get to hear that voice again! It was just wonderful."

Tom Baker has told the BBC that playing the Doctor was the happiest time of his whole life.

The veteran actor was interviewed for the BBC Three show Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty , screened directly after the 50th Anniversary episode in which Baker made a surprise cameo appearance playing The Curator. It's been my entire existence. I'm delighted to be celebrating it, he said. The fans give me the credit for making Saturday more fun than it really was, in between the football, Basil Brush and Bruce Forsyth. I was right up there with all those legends and I'm grateful..

The live show featured interviews many previous Doctors and Companions from the series including Carole Ann Ford and William Russell, both of whom appeared in the first episode, An Unearthly Child, fifty years ago. Earlier in the day five Doctors, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Matt Smith received a standing ovation at the Doctor Who Convention at London's ExCeL Centre. When asked about their favourite Doctor most cited Patrick Troughton. He always managed to sort things out without you knowing he'd done it, said Colin Baker, without Patrick none of us would be here.

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - a star-studded special written and directed by Peter Davison and starring Davison alongside Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, with Paul McGann appearing too - is now available on the BBC iPlayer.


It is also scheduled to be broadcast again tonight via the Red Button service, between 9.25pm and 10.35pm.

The BBC have revealed a new Red Button video this coming Saturday evening:


The project, as noted above, has been driven by Peter Davison, and also has an associated Twitter account to follow, DayOfTheFishDr.


Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker were spotted filming a "protest" outside BBC Television Centre during the summer, sporting signs such as "No Classics? No 50th!!" and "Have A Heart. Classic Doctors Want A Part". As Conor Keegan observed on Twitter at the time: "Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison outside TVC right now! Protesting that they aren't in the 50th ann Doctor Who! Mental."; and "Colin Baker has arrived. Outside BBC Television Centre right now, protesting.". Other names associated with the spoof drama include Sean Pertwee, who tweeted an apparent call sheet with his, Paul McGann and Olivia Colman's names listed.