Doctor Who has made the shortlist for Drama in the 2016 National Television Awards, which takes place live from the O2 in London on 20th January. The show is up against: Downton Abbey, which saw its final episode top the ratings on Christmas Day; Broadchurch, whose third series with former Doctor David Tennant will be shown this year; and Casualty, now entering its 30th year on television!

Doctor Who and Downton Abbey have dominated the category in the last decade, with Doctor Who holding the title between 2005 and 2010 (there was no award ceremony in 2009), and then Downton Abbey between 2012 and 2015 - with the exception of 2014 when Doctor Who regained the crown! The only other show to win the award during this period was school drama Waterloo Road in 2011.

David Tennant has been nominated in the Drama Performance category for his role as Alec Hardy in Broadchurch (fellow Time Lord actors Peter Capaldi, Christopher Eccleston and most recent sidekick actress Jenna Coleman did not make the shortlist). He faces Suranne Jones (Gemma Foster in Doctor Foster), Aidan Turner (Ross Poldark in Poldark) and Sheridan Smith (Jo Gillespie in Black Work). Tennant has previously won the award between 2007 and 2010 during his tenure as the Doctor, and received a Special Recognition award in 2015.


Votes may be cast via the NTA website until midday on Wednesday 20th January 2016, with the ceremony itself broadcast live on ITV from 7:30pm.

This Wednesday sees the publication of brand new tales from The Tenth and Twelfth Doctor.

Issue 10 of the new look Doctor Who Adventures is out this Thursday 7th January.

In this month's issue

• BIG IN JAPAN
James Peaty scripts this issue’s tale as the Doctor visits Tokyo in search of sushi and winds up face to face with a giant robot and a massive lizard. Can he save the city from destruction? You’ll have to wait and see!
• DON’T BLINK
Make your party go with a bang with this cool Weeping Angels party game!
• KNOW YOUR WHO-NIVERSE!
Revisit the latest series of Doctor Who with this cool quiz to test your knowledge of the Doctor’s latest adventures!
• DAVROS’ RESEARCH LAB
You get the chance to learn from the worst as Davros shows you how to make your own Hand Mine gloves!
• UNIT ALIEN ARCHIVE
This month gives you access to the UNIT Archive as we find out the truth about the Gallifreyans known as the Time Lords!
• STRAX’S GUIDE TO STRANGE BEINGS
This month Strax is giving an informative lecture on the Veil, the Cloister Wraiths and the Sandmen!
• THE PLANETARY PRANKSTER
Victorian London becomes a giant playground as an extra-terrestrial prankster pays a visit and turns the Tower of London into a giant bouncy castle. Can the Paternoster Gang put a stop to the madness?

Issue 10 comes with a Free Mega Poster and a free wind-up TARDIS.

Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song, had an official rating of 7.69 million viewers.

The final rating includes those who watched the programme within one week of transmission. It is an increase of nearly 2 million on the initially reported figure.

Christmas Day saw some impressive timeshift figures. The top programme of the week was the final episode of ITV's Downton Abbey, which increased its audience by four million to finish with an official audience of 10.92 million.

A substantial timeshift was also achieved by the BBC's highest rated programme, Mrs Brown's Boys, which finished with 9.49 million watching. Other BBC programmes doing well included Call the Midwife with 9.3 million, Stick Man with 9.28 million, and Strictly Come Dancing with 8.54 million. The Boxing Day showing of the Agatha Christie mystery And Then There Were None also scored highly with 8.61 million viewers.

The Queen's Christmas Broadcast to the Commonwealth had 6.35 million watching on BBC One but, once ITV's figures were added, it just edged above Doctor Who with 7.76 million viewers.

Doctor Who was 8th for the week and 7th for Christmas Day. It achieved higher ratings than the ubiquitous soaps Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale.

Since the series returned in 2005 there have been eleven Christmas day episodes, the most successful being the 2007 episode starring Kylie Minogue, Voyage of the Damned.

In the United States The Husbands of River Song achieved a 1.242m Live+ SD Rating on BBC America.

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BBC America is to rebroadcast Doctor Who Series 9, complete with commentary from Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook.

Starting Saturday January 30th each episode will be shown annotated with inside facts, fan art and comments.

Happy New Year from Doctor Who News

Willy Phantom, 1st January, 2016

The BBC Four repeat of the 1977 story The Face of Evil, had mixed fortunes according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Part one on Monday had an average of 141,000 viewers, above the timeslot average of 79,000. Part Two, which followed directly had an average of 183,000 watching, below the timeslot average of 268,000.

However just 56,000 tuned in for Part Three on Tuesday evening, rising to 88,000 for the story's conclusion.

Final figures will be released next week, and will include those who recorded the programme and watched it later.

Parts one and Two had an Appreciation Index score of 84 with Parts Three and Four scoring 83.

Actor, comedian, presenter, and all-round Doctor Who aficionado Toby Hadoke has produced a video in remembrance of those cast and crew who have been lost to the Doctor Who universe in 2015.

As 2015 draws to a close, actor and writer Toby Hadoke has put together a memorial tape marking the lives those members of the Doctor Who universe who sadly died during the year.

The Space Channel, the Canadian broadcaster of Doctor Who, has given Doctor Who News an update on the final ratings for Series 9.


While Doctor Who has remained their most watched program, the average viewership has gone down over the final few episodes. In November Doctor Who News reported that an average of 731,000 people watched per episode. All ratings only cover traditional television viewers including PVR, not those who watched via apps or online.