The Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, had an estimated audience of 5.68 million viewers on BBC One, a share of 27.1% of the total TV audience, according to unofficial overnigfht figures.

Top of the tree this year was the Christmas edition of Strictly Come Dancing which had 7.17 million viewers, followed by The Great Christmas Bake Off with 6.23 million. Later in the evening Mrs Brown's Christmas Boys, which has topped the ratings in recent years, scored 6.13 million. The drama Call the Midwife had 6.06 million while soap EastEnders had 5.9 million.

ITV's highest rated programme was Coronation Street with 6.12 million. The Queen's Christmas Message had 5.19 million watching on BBC One and 2.95 million on ITV.

The overnight figures are an initial estimate. Final figures, including those who record the programme and watch within a week, will be released early next week.

The BBC have released the teaser trailer for the forthcoming next series of Doctor Who, shown before the end titles of this year's Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio:



The next series is due to air in the United Kingdom during the spring of next year.

Today sees the premiere of the Doctor's only adventure for 2016, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, which takes its now traditional spot in the BBC One Christmas Day television line-up. There's still time to enter our competition to predict the ratings of this festive episode - details below!

At the time of writing, there's six hours to go before Doctor Who is broadcast in the United Kingdom, but in the meantime the BBC have released a wealth of videos to promote the episode:

Predict the Ratings Competition

It's time for our 'legendary' Predict the Ratings competition, which this year will give readers the chance to win The Return of Doctor Mysterio on DVD/Bluray upon its release, plus a copy of the BBC Book The Whoniverse by Justin Richards and George Mann.


The ratings and positions for 2014 and 2015 are presented here for comparison - recent years have seen a decline in television viewing over Christmas Day, with none of the programmes achieving the heady heights of several years ago.

To enter our competition, please send the following details to comp-ratings@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and preferred email address
• Your country of entry (full details will be requested only if you are the winner)
• Your guess at the final viewing figure to the nearest 10,000 (eg.9.99m)
• Your guess at the final position in the chart (eg. 1st) - this will only be used in the event of a tie-break

Terms and Conditions:

• The competition closes at 08:30 GMT, 26th December 2016.
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide.
• BARB final figures are expected in early 2016; we will contact the winner once they have been published.

Fantom Publishing have released details on the next two releases in their Who Talk range of alternative audio commmentaries.

First up is the original television adventure, An Unearthly Child. Producer Paul W T Ballard explains:

The commentary features William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Jeremy Young (Kal), Waris Hussein (Director), Brian Hodgson (Special Sound) and Clive Doig (Vision Mixer), and is moderated by the omnipresent Toby Hadoke.

The second release celebrates the Cyber 60s, with Paul saying:

The set contains commentaries for the Patrick Troughton serials The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion. Moderated by both Paul and Toby, this release features Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Michael Kilgarriff (Cyber Controller), Sally Faulkner (Isobel), Sylvia James (Make-Up), Roger Bunce (Cameraman) and Marcia Wheeler (Assistant Floor Manager).


The company are also offering a special edition bundle featuring both commentaries: each set will be signed by an actor from each release as well as a both disc featuring additional commentaries on The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase. These CDs are very limited, and exclusively available via the Who Talk website.

Who Talk will return in 2017 with a full of schedule of alternative DVD Commentaries.

This week sees Titan Comics release the latest Doctor Who comic featuring the Tenth Doctor, the spectacular finale of year two. .

TENTH DOCTOR #2.17

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Artist: Giorgia Sposito
Cover A: Wellington Diaz - B: Will Brooks Photo - C: Matt Baxter - D: Claudia Ianniciello - E: Nick Abadzis

Big Finish have announced that the Fourth Doctor Adventures will continue into 2018 with a new series featuring the Doctor (Tom Baker), Leela (Louise Jameson) and K9 (John Leeson).

This time around the series will be released as two boxed sets of four episodes each. January 2018 will see the release of Series 7A, consisting of Episode One by Andrew Smith, The Crowmarsh Experiement by David Llewellyn, and The Mind-Runners / The Demon Rises by John Dorney; May sees the release of Series 7B, with The Shadow of London by Justin Richards, Episode Six by Dan Starkey, and Kill The Doctor! / Episode Eight by Guy Adams.

For digital listeners, as well as the two boxed sets it will also be possible to buy the episodes individually. Pre-orders can be purchased at a discount to the final release price. For full details see the Big Finish website.


Meanwhile, Season 6 kicks off in January, which as well as K9 will feature the Doctor's Time Lord side-kick Romana (as portrayed by Lalla Ward):

BBC Worldwide have released details on the forthcoming Blu-ray/DVD release of this year's Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, in the United Kingdom:


The Return of Doctor Mysterio is available to pre-order on DVD or Blu-ray from our Amazon Shop, and there is still time to win a copy in our Predict The Ratings competition!

There have been a few recent developments on the German market that are of interest.

• Pandastorm Pictures are going to release the TV Movie on DVD and Blu-Ray early 2017. There will be three different editions. First of all on 17th February there will be a limited "Collecter's Edition Mediabook", which will contain two DVD's and one Blu-Ray. The regular editions of the DVD (2 discs) and Blu-Ray (one disc) will be released on 31st March 2017 and feature a different cover. All three editions will contain the German and English language soundtracks, as well as all bonus features of the UK releases. Also included will be exclusive material for the German market. Details to follow.
• German books publisher Cross Cult are going to release the novelisation of The Pirate Planet ("Der Piratenplanet") by James Goss on 27th February 2017. This will be Cross Cult's last confirmed Doctor Who novel.
  One of Germany's biggest publishers, Bastei Lübbe, will take up the reign and release the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks ("Die Hand des Omega") on 21st July 2017. It will also be available in the audio book format.
• Adding to their German editions of the popular Titan Doctor Who comic books, Panini Comics Germany just released the first volume of the IDW story Prisoners of Time ("Gefangene der Zeit"). There was also a limited to 200 copies variant cover, drawn by popular 80's/90's comic book artist John Ridgway, only available on the German Doctor Who convention TimeLash II last October. Volume 2 will be released on 28th February 2017.
• Germany's only Doctor Who convention TimeLash will take place for a third time on 28th to 29th October 2017 in Kassel. Guests announced so far are Daphne Ashbrook (Grace Holloway) , Philip Hinchliffe (70's producer and writer) and Annette Badland (Margaret Slitheen). More guest announcements to follow on the official TimeLash Facebook page in the coming weeks. Tickets will be available in early January on the TimeLash Homepage.

Warlord Games have announced that the next release in their range of miniature figures will be based upon characters from this year's Christmas special, The Return Of Doctor Mysterio:


The set is available to pre-order from their website.

Two new issues of Doctor Who Magazine are on sale now

Doctor Who Magazine 507 features new companion Nardole who returns in this year’s Christmas Special and for the 2017 series.

Matt Lucas chats to DWM in a rare and exclusive interview

You can read the full interview inside the new magazine...

ALSO INSIDE THIS ISSUE…

• THE RETURN OF DOCTOR MYSTERIO
DWM previews the amazing new Christmas Special!
• MEET THE GHOST
A chat with the man behind the mask – Justin Chatwin, who plays The Ghost in the Christmas episode!
• ASK STEVEN
Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat answers readers' questions.
• THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR
DWM takes an in-depth look at the Doctor’s superhero credentials.
• REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2016
Despite the lack of series on TV, 2016 has still been a year to remember in the world of Doctor Who...
• THE FEAST OF STEVEN
Why the Doctor took a week off from fighting Daleks in 1965 to engage in some slapstick comedy…
• PINBALL WIZARDS!
24 years after it launched, the Doctor Who pinball table has returned in digital form.
• BE FORGOT
A brand-new comic strip adventure, written by Mark Wright and illustrated by Mike Collins.
• TIME TEAM
There’s a double helping this issue as our team watches The Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Death of the Doctor, and the 2010 Special A Christmas Carol.
• THE RUNAWAY BRIDE
Writer Russell T Davies reveals fascinating new facts about the 2006 Christmas Special in this issue’s Fact of Fiction.
• THE POWER OF THE DALEKS
DWM reviews the recent DVD release of the animated edition of the 1966 classic, The Power of the Daleks.
• STOCKING FILLERS
A review of all the Who goodies which make perfect Christmas gifts.
• COMING SOON
Previews of all the latest Doctor Who CD and book releases.
• WOTCHA
The Watcher ponders the Reset Button...

PLUS! All the latest official news, Christmas competitions, and The Watcher’s Christmas Quiz.

Doctor Who Magazine 507 is on sale now, price £5.99, with a GIGANTIC FREE POSTER!

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The Doctor Who Magazine Yearbook 2017 is a 100-page special edition, packed with all-new content.

There are exclusive interviews with the cast of the recent spin-off Class and the crew of the 2017 series of Doctor Who. The director and costume designer of Friend from the Future describe the making of the mini-episode, and there is an extensive section of tributes to Doctor Who luminaries who passed away during 2016.

Elsewhere there are round-ups up the year’s Doctor Who-related books, records and Big Finish releases, along with a report from November’s launch event for the new Power of the Daleks animation.

Editor Marcus Hearn says: Doctor Who Magazine Special: The 2017 Yearbook is on sale now, price £5.99.