The Bells of Saint John has debuted in Australia, averaging 757,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's top-rating program of the day and the eighth highest rating programme of the day overall. It was also the fifth highest rating program in the free-to-air 18-49 and 25-54 demographics. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

Classic-era companion actors Carole Anne Ford and Frazer Hines will be joining Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday 6th April.

They will be talking about the Destiny of the Doctor CDs, and radio show producer Malcolm Prince told Doctor Who News that the actors will be the first of many Doctor Who-related guests on Norton's radio programme this year to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

Destiny of the Doctor is a year-long series of new audio dramas from BBC AudioGo being produced by Big Finish as part of the anniversary celebrations. Each Doctor will have his own story in the run-up to the anniversary itself in November.

In the AudioGo dramas, Hines, who played Jamie McCrimmon alongside the Second Doctor, stars in Shadow of Death, which was released last month, while Ford, who portrayed the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, is in Hunters of Earth, released in January.

Questions to the duo can be submitted via graham.norton@bbc.co.uk

The show runs from 10am to 1pm and they are scheduled to be on air at 11.30am, but please note that running orders are subject to change.

It should be available to listen to worldwide via the BBC iPlayer. A clip of the interview will be posted on the radio show's site afterwards, along with the weekly podcast.

Tonight sees an evening celebrating the spiritual home of BBC Television, Television Centre at White City, London.

The schedule will see what is expected to be the final programmes to be made at TVC, which closes at the end of the month after some 53 years of broadcasting. Events include an attempt to recreate the record-breaking tap dance originally made by Roy Castle in 1977, plus a live hour performance by band Madness on the Centre forecourt. The evening's centrepiece will be the broadcast of Goodbye, Television Centre, a 90 minute programme presented by a name well known to Doctor Who fandom, former BBC1 Controller and Chairman Michael Grade, and featuring a host of celebrities long-associated with broadcasting from TVC including Michael Parkinson, David Attenborough, David Jason, Penelope Keith and Ronnie Corbett. Finally, musician Richard Thompson performs a one-off concert from Studio 8.

• 7:00pm, BBC One, The One Show
• 7:30pm, BBC Four, Madness Live
• 8:30pm, BBC Four, Goodbye Television Centre
• 10:25pm, BBC Four, Richard Thompson BBC Four Session

Sadly absent from the evening is the more informal documentary, Tales of Television Centre, broadcast last May on BBC Four. The programme took audiences on a nostalgic journey through TVC's history, featuring clips and reflections by many who worked there, including Doctor Who actors Peter Davison, Katy Manning, Louise Jameson, and Janet Fielding.

For Doctor Who fans, TVC will also be remembered as the 'home' of the series during its initial production run. The first episode to be recorded here was The Warriors of Death in 1964, but it wasn't until the tail end of the Troughton era when it was to become the 'permanent' studio complex for recording (barring the occasional story). TVC itself became a location as the exterior of the World Ecology Bureau in The Seeds of Doom, and will feature prominently as its 1960s self in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

A brief history of TVC:

Although of interest to Doctor Who fans, who tend to have greater interest in the production history of their programme than more casual viewers, BBC Television Centre has transcended fandom of any kind to become a recognised icon of British popular culture. It is indelibly associated with BBC Television in the minds of many of the British public, even those who have no interest at all in the history of television or how it is produced.

The land where Television Centre – always ‘TVC’ for short – now stands was originally part of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition; it was purchased by the BBC in 1949, although construction did not begin until the 1950s. Its unique question-mark shaped design allegedly came from a flash of inspiration on the part of architect Graham Dawbarn, who was wrestling with how to fit the requisite number of studios and other buildings onto the triangular piece of land the BBC had bought. Popular legend says that he doodled the question mark shape onto an envelope, and this was how the problem was solved.

Although designed as the first purpose-built television studio complex in the world, it took until 1960 for Television Centre to open, by which time Granada Television’s custom-built Quay Street studios in Manchester were already open and producing programmes. However, over the following decades, BBC Television Centre became undeniably the most famous television production centre in Britain, and perhaps one of the most famous in the world – to some British viewers it seemed, in the words of Steven Moffat in Doctor Who Confidential, “more Hollywood than Hollywood”.

From the centre’s official opening in 1960s up until the 1990s, the studios were home to every conceivable genre of television programming – drama, sitcom, light entertainment, discussion, news, current affairs, lifestyle, chat show and more. Television Centre was a broadcasting factory, pumping out the core of the BBC’s output, serviced by on-site production departments creating costumes, sets, special effects for every imaginable situation and setting on Earth – or of course, as Doctor Who fans know, beyond.

Television Centre was never the sole home of the BBC’s television output, even in London, but its frequent on-screen presence in many of the Corporation’s programmes meant it came to be seen as the home of BBC Television. However, into the 1990s the style and nature of television began to change. Drama in particular left the Centre – outside of soap operas, dramas were no longer being made in the old multi-camera studio style. The last drama to be made in the old Doctor Who multi-camera fashion was BBC One Sunday night period piece The House of Eliott, which came to an end in 1994.

With BBC producers now having free rein to make their programmes in whatever studios were the most economic, and many of the Corporation’s programmes now being made by independent production companies, programmes could be, and were, made anywhere. There were also conscious efforts to de-centralise the BBC’s London-based output, with major production centres in the 21st century being in such sites as Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

With all of this, and other political considerations, the BBC took the decision to sell off Television Centre to developers. The closure of TVC this month, after 53 years as the flagship of the Corporation’s television broadcasting, brings to an end an era when the BBC operated an in-house production line of television that was, from conception to production to screen, not unlike a grand Hollywood studio system of the old days. And it leaves behind one of the few pieces of broadcasting architecture ever to achieve recognition outside of its industry.

The Future:

After closure, Stanhope will begin its plans for the metamorphosis of the site into a range facilities; the company announced earlier this year:
Further details outlined in the plan include the conversion of the 'horseshoe' carpark into a public square, and a new cycle route will run through the site to link up with the adjacent Hammersmith Park. Studios 1, 2 and 3 will be retained for recording, but 4-7 will be demolished in favour of residential flats. The North and South Halls will become entrances for the flat and for a new luxury hotel that will occupy the existing central ring offices facing Wood Lane. Stages 4 and 5 will become "The Television Factory", an office complex aimed at small media companies and also for commercial outlets on the ground floor. Stage 6 will become the home of BBC Worldwide.

How much of TVC will still be recognisable after the redevelopment remains to be seen!

Television Centre to live on via Google:

In February Google visited TVC in order to make a "snapshot" of how the iconic building looked before closure and partial demolition. Bill Thompson, head of Partnership Development, reflected:

In the Media:

• BBC TV Centre: Goodbye to the 'dream factory' (BBC News)
• BBC Television Centre: Farewell to the Dream Factory (The Independent)
• Farewell London W12 8QT (The Sun)
• The question mark over the BBC's finest hours (Express)
• A farewell to TVC (BBC)
• Angela Rippon revisits old TV studio [video] (BBC News)
• In praise of ... Television Centre (Guardian)
  
  
• Michael Grade: 'BBC Television Centre was state of the art but it's way past its sell-by date' (Independent)
• Television Centre sale draws fire from BBC stars in tribute programme (Guardian)
• BBC stars lament end of TV Centre (Express)
• Madness to play BBC Television Centre farewell gig (BBC)
• Dance on tap for final show from TV Centre (Brighouse Echo)
• BBC Club appoints Pitman’s People for The Television Centre’s Closing Party Celebrations (Event Industry News)

BBC Worldwide have released a demonstration of how Doctor Who is broadcast in other languages from around the world as part of the promotion of the show at this year's BBC Worldwide Showcase, currently taking place in Liverpool.

The video shows a clip from The Wedding of River Song in English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German and Italian.


As recently reported, episodes of the show will be available to watch in the Middle East via Al Jazeera's JCC channel, and in Poland, South Africa, Burma and Indonesia via BBC Entertainment.

Al Jazeera has bought Series 5 to 7 of Doctor Who, it was announced today.

The episodes were snapped up at the BBC Worldwide Showcase 2013 event and will be shown on the satellite TV broadcaster's pan-Arabic children's channel JCC, which launched in 2005 and is based in Qatar.

The showcase is a four-day international TV market being held at ACC Liverpool. It started yesterday and is welcoming some 700 TV buyers from around the globe.

Paola Tonella, BBC Worldwide's sales and distribution territory manager for the Middle East and Africa, said: Among the star names at yesterday's gala opening were Eve Myles and Mark Williams.

The showcase will also be hosting special events to both celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and to spotlight the natural-history documentary series Africa.

Steve Macallister, the president and managing director of sales and distribution at BBC Worldwide, said:

Poland and South Africa will get the second part of Series 7 the day after each of the eight episodes is shown in the UK, it was announced today by BBC Worldwide.

The episodes will air on BBC Entertainment, starting on Sunday 31st March at 6pm in Poland and 7pm in South Africa.


Jon Farrar, the vice-president of programming for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at BBC Worldwide Channels, said: BBC America and SPACE in Canada will be launching the second part of Series 7 on Saturday 30th March in line with the UK.

The BBC have announced that the first of the eight episodes that comprise the second part of Series Seven will premiere on BBC One from Saturday 30th March - back in its 'traditional' Easter weekend slot! Though Doctor Who Magazine had already reported that the series would be on during April, this is the first time the BBC themselves have confirmed the date of a regular series of episodes so far ahead of its intended schedule - normally it is only announced a few weeks beforehand.

The time of broadcast has yet to be confirmed.

Both BBC America and SPACE (Canada) have confirmed that they, too, will launch the second part from the 30th March; no announcements have been made for the series to premiere in the other main countries as yet, though based on recent years they are likely to be close to transmission of the series in the United Kingdom.

Tonight sees the return of Stargazing Live to BBC Television on BBC2/BBCHD. The series sees presenters Professor Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain bring their enthusiasm for astronomy to life, inviting viewers to appreciate the sky and the visible objects that surround us each evening.

Each show is followed by a half-hour discussion about the evening's theme and discoveries, with the two presenters joined by guests and a studio audience. This year, Back to Earth also features a special guest in the form of K9! The Doctor's second-best friend will be on hand to offer his own unique knowledge of the stars from his travels.

This week's shows look at Mars, charting history through the stars, and then meteors, asteroids and comets.

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K9 isn't the first reference to Doctor Who in Stargazing Live; back in the first series guest Jonathan Ross was quite insistent he had spotted Gallifrey in the night sky! The clip is available to watch via the BBC's YouTube channel.

David Tennant made one of his regular guest appearances on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio on 21st December, again starring in the show's festive performance - this time as the Virgin Mary in their Nativity, Dude, Where's My Donkey? The play was recorded and can be watched in three parts: One; Two; Three.

The actor also made the news for his novel way of deterring foxes from his back garden. [Standard, 21 Dec 2012]

Steven Moffat talked about his rituals over Christmas (as well as watching Doctor Who of course!). For example, on the subject of the inevitable requirements to put things together: "Sue will tell me to assemble something. Maybe just put batteries into some toys. And I'll sit on the floor with a screwdriver, and do my Daddy thing. Slowly, by degrees, it becomes a compulsion. I find more and more things to assemble. And then I need more and more! I'm rummaging in the bins, trying to find the instruction manuals among all the scarves and Sue's new jewellery. They start calling me for Christmas lunch, but "No!" I cry. "Just one more thing. I need to assemble just one more thing!" Then I'm breaking into the boys’ Lego kits and putting them together like a crazed junkie, destroying weeks of fun at a stroke. Somehow, though, before I can make it to Ikea to demand flatpacks at gunpoint, Sue will manage to get me to the dinner table to eat with the family." [Standard, 21 Dec 2012]

The recent series of Pointless Celebrities in the lead-up to Christmas - hosted as always by Alexander Armstrong - saw a number of Doctor Who-related actors and actresses taking part in the quiz. Nicholas Parsons appeared in episode eight, though he and partner Rick Wakeman were unable to win through to the final. However, former companion actress Bonnie Langford did reach the final with partner Todd Carty, though they were unable to find the pointless answer they needed to win the prize money for their charities. Likewise, the final episode of the series saw the pairing of two stalwart character actors Derek Martin and Graham Cole also make it to the final but fail to be pointless!

BBC Radio One DJ Reggie Yates presented his last edition of The Official Chart on 23rd December. He has been at the BBC for some ten years, and presented the chart show on Sunday evenings for the last five. Future projects include a new documentary series for BBC Three.

Karen Gillan has published a photo of her and co-star Brenton Thwaites during filming for her upcoming movie Oculus. [Karen Gillan via Twitter, 23 Dec 2012]

Louise Jameson goes on tour in January and February with the adult-themed play My Gay Best Friend. She will be appearing at The Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester on Saturday 5th January, Hull Truck Theatre on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th January, The Old Town Hall in Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday 12th February, Harrow Arts Centre on Wednesday 13th February, and The Under Ground Theatre in Eastbourne on Thursday 14th February. Jameson will also be appearing in Pulling Faces at The Berry Theatre in Hedge End on Friday 8th February. Again, this production has adult themes. [louisejameson.com]

New Year Honours List:

Michael Cashman has been made a CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire - for public and political service. The former actor played Bilton in Time-Flight but became more widely known as an actor for his role as Colin Russell in EastEnders. He is now a Labour MEP for the West Midlands and was a co-founder of Stonewall.

As an aside, the singer-songwriter Kate Bush has also been made a CBE, with her honour being given for services to music - for many years a fan myth persisted that she had written both Kinda and Snakedance under the pseudonym of Christopher Bailey - something the real Bailey found quite amusing!