Canada's annual science fiction awards, the Constellations, have now taken place. Doctor Who and its related shows had been nominated in a number of categories:

The Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode category was won by former Doctor David Tennant, gaining 23% of the vote for his performance in The Waters of Mars; he narrowly beat Robin Dunne from Sanctuary at 22%. Torchwood star Gareth David Lloyd had also been nominated in this category, coming in at fifth place (8%) for Torchwood: Children of Earth.

However, Doctor Who itself did not fare so well in the Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2009 category; having won the award three years running, this time it only managed third place at 17%, behind Defying Gravity(22%) and Supernatural(23%).

In other categories, actress Michelle Ryan came fourth with 13% of the vote in Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode for her role as Christina in Planet of the Dead; Torchwood: Children of Earth came third for Best Overall 2009 Science Fiction Film or Television Script (20%); and finally actress Aurora Buchanan came fifth(10%) in Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series for fan-made film Doctor Who: Victimsight.

Torchwood: Children of Earth has won a Saturn Award for Best Presentation on Television for BBC America.

The 2010 Saturn Awards were presented by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, recognizing excellence in the genre fields of movie and television.

Torchwood: Children of Earth was transmitted on BBC America in July 2009, shortly after its UK Premier. The series was stripped Monday to Friday in a 75 minute slot.

Other nominees in the category included Doctor Who: The End of Time.

Both Doctor Who and Torchwood have been nominated in several categories for this year's Portal Awards, held by Airlock Alpha.

Best Actor/Television sees Jack vs Doctor as both David Tennant and John Barrowman are up for the award; they are joined by Matthew Fox (Lost), Zachary Levi (Chuck), and Eddie McClintock (Warehouse 13).

Both shows also appear in the Best Actress/Television category, with Karen Gillan and Eve Myles combatting against Paula Malcomson (Caprica), Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), and Anna Torv (Fringe).

The awards wouldn't be right without the 10th Doctor's final companion, with Bernard Cribbins nominated for Best Supporting Actor/Television; he's vying for the award with Robert Carlyle (Stargate: Universe), Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse), John Noble (Fringe), and Terry O'Quinn (Lost).

Alex Kingston is nominated for her appearance and River Song in Time of Angels for the Best Special Guest/Television nominations, with her competition being James Callis (FlashForward), Felicia Day (Dollhouse), Leonard Nimoy (Fringe), and Michael Shanks (Smallville).

Finally, both Doctor Who and Torchwood trade blows in both the Best Series/Television and Best Episode/Television nominations, with other shows in the categories including Smallville, Fringe, Stargate: Universe, and Lost.

Voting for the awards commences on the Airlock Alpha website from 25th June, with readers able to vote once a day for the following 30 days. The winners will be announced in August.

The Doctor Who bookshelf of awards eyes up Canada next, with a number of nominations in the categories for the Constellation Awards.


Former Doctor David Tennant is up for his third award for Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode with The Waters of Mars; he previously won in the 2006 and 2007 ceremonies. This time he is up against Gareth David Lloyd for his performance as Ianto Jones in Torchwood: Children of Earth (Day Four). Other nominations include Jenson Ackles (Supernatural), John Noble (Fringe), Misha Collins (Supernatural), Robin Dunne (Sanctuary) and Ron Livingston (Defying Gravity).

The Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode sees guest star Michelle Ryan nominated for her role as Lady Christina in Planet of the Dead. This was won last year by Catherine Tate for her role as Donna Noble in Turn Left, and in 2008 by Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow in Blink). Michelle's competition includes Agam Darshi (Sanctuary), Alona Tal (Supernatural), Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), Laura Harris (Defying Gravity) and Lena Headley (Sarah Connor Chronicles)

Doctor Who is (of course!) up for Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2009 for the fourth time, having won this category in all three previous ceremonies. This year it is up against the likes of Sanctuary, Supernatural, Stargate Universe, Defying Gravity, Flash Forward and Being Erica. (The series also won the Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television at the first ceremony in 2007.)

Best Overall 2009 Science Fiction Film or Television Script sees Torchwood: Children of Earth (Day One) nomimated; last year this was won by the Doctor Who episode Silence in the Library. Torchwood is up against Stargate Universe, Defying Gravity, Being Erica, Flash Forward and District 9.

In addition, the Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series category yields an unusual entry in the form of actress Aurora Buchanan, who has been nominated for the fan-made film Doctor Who: Victimsight. This is the only fan production to make the entire award nominations, and Aurora is up against major Hollywood actresses/entries like Emma Watson (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), Zoe Zaldana (nominated twice for both Star Trek and Avatar), and Dakota Fanning (Push).


The Constellation Awards are Canada's annual science fiction awards, and focus on rewarding excellence in science fiction film and television. This is the fourth year of the Awards, which are voted for by the Canadian public; it will take place at the Polaris 24 convention on 17th July 2010.

The nominations for this year's BAFTA Cymru Awards have been released, and once again Doctor Who and its spinoffs are up for several awards — in some cases against themselves!


The BBC itself has some 31 nominations in total. You can find the full list of nominations in the categories at the BAFTA website.

The winners will be anounced at the Bafta Cymru Awards ceremony on Sunday 23rd May at the Wales Millennium Centre. There are limited tickets available to the public, enquire at the Millennium Centre (029 2063 6464).

The 2010 Hugo Award ceremony will take place at Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne Australia this year, and sees Doctor Who nominated three times in the Best Dramatic Presentation — Short Form category! The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead and The Waters of Mars — all penned/co-penned by former series show-runner Russell T Davies — are vying for the award, and are up against American series Dollhouse and Flash Forward.

Doctor Who has fared well in this category since its return to television. In 2006, new series show-runner Steven Moffat's story The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances won the award (with Father's Day and Dalek also nominated). Then the following year saw Moffat's The Girl in the Fireplace succeeding (this time against Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and School Reunion). And then in 2008 — you guessed it — Moffat triumphed again with Blink (up against Human Nature/Family of Blood and Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness). Last year Moffat narrowly missed out with Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (along with Russell T Davies's Turn Left) to Buffy and Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon's Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Will Davies finally triumph this year with three stories up for the award? The award ceremony takes place at Aussiecon between 2nd-6th September — only those registered for the convention are eligible to vote.

Doctor Who Magazine has been named by Guinness World Records as the world's Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series.

It joins Doctor Who, which itself is a record holder, having been named the Worlds Most successful sci-fi series in 2009 as well as being the Longest running sci-fi series.

The magazine was first published on 11th October 1979, and since then has published at least one issue every month, issue 420 being released this week. The award comes as the magazine enjoys one of its most successful periods in its history.

Originally part of Marvel Comics the magazine was first published as Doctor Who Weekly featuring the then current Doctor, Tom Baker, and a Dalek on its first cover. The editor was Dez Skinn who presided over the first 22 issues. In September 1980 the magazine became Doctor Who Monthly before changing to Doctor Who Magazine in February 1984. The title was taken over by the current owners Panini in 1995 when the Italian based publisher purchased the Marvel UK catalogue.

The Magazine has had 11 editors over its long run, the longest serving being Clayton Hickman who edited 74 issues of the magazine between 2002 and 2007. Other long running editors include Gary Gillatt, (69 issues), John Freeman (49 issues), Alan McKenzie (48 issues), Gary Russell (37 issues) and Sheila Cranna (31 issues). Russell is now involved with the production of the current series as Script Editor.

The current editor is Tom Spilsbury who took over the magazine in 2007.

The Television and Radio Industries Club held their annual TRIC Awards yesterday at the Grosvenor House, London, during which Doctor Who won the award for "TV Drama Programme"; the show was up against ITV1's Doc Martin and Channel 4's Shameless. The award was accepted by Bernard Cribbins.

This is the first time that Doctor Who has won a TRIC award, though actress Billie Piper received the "New TV Talent" award in 2006.

You can find the winners of all categories at the TRIC website.

The DVD documentary Who Peter has helped earn its director and writer, Chris Chapman, a Royal Television Award, the Andrea Wonfor trophy, for Best Newcomer. The 30 minute feature will form part of the Myths and Legends Box Set due to be released in the UK at the end of March. The judges described Chapman's potfilio of work for Dene Films, which included Who Peter, as breathtaking for the quality of skills on show.

In other DVD news a couple of the additional extras for the re-issue of The Caves of Androzani as part of the Re-visitations box set have been announced. The disc will include 8 minutes of Peter Davison and Colin Baker's appearance on a chat show as well as a documentary looking at Graeme Harper's work on Doctor Who.

As the award season continues apace, the latest nomination comes from the Royal Television Society with The Sarah Jane Adventures up for their Children's Drama award. The show faces two other CBBC-produced shows MI High and Roy. The award ceremony takes place at the Grosvenor Park Hotel on Tuesday 16th March - the venue also sees the annual TRIC awards a week beforehand where Doctor Who is up for best TV Programme Drama (see our award report last month for more details).

The Royal Television Society is Britain's leading forum for television and related media, and has existed for over 80 years. It produces the monthly industry magazine Television.