The flurry of Doctor Who news stories in the run-up to The End of Time has begun. But first, North American viewers will be able to enjoy The Waters of Mars tomorrow on BBC America and Canada's Space channel. In North American media, Canadian entertainment website dose.ca has an interview with Russell T Davies, and The Philadelphia Daily News, The Vancouver Sun and McClatchy News all have interviews with David Tennant.

Tennant is busy in the US filming the pilot for Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, and the Los Angeles Times reports that NBC may pick the series up as early as this spring. For those of you who can't get enough pictures of David Tennant wearing puffy winter coats, there are plenty from Rex filming here. In other Tennant news, the Sunday Mercury has an article titled "7 Things You Didn't Know About Dr Who David Tennant" (though readers of this page probably know most of them). What's On TV has a lengthy interview with Tennant about The End of Time, and BBC Newsbeat interviews Tennant about his forthcoming role in "St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold". Down Under, The Age and The Daily Telegraph (both of Australia) have stories on Tennant's TARDIS exit.

SFX continues its month-long Doctor Who celebration, with more excerpts from their interview with Russell T Davies here (talking about classic Doctor Who and multi-Doctor stories), here (talking about American television) and here (talking about "the scene that gets everyone" in The End of Time). Also on SFX's blog, Phil Ford talks about writing for The Sarah Jane Adventures, Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon) answers questions from fans, and the blog's staff compile a list of all the times British tabloids have gotten a Doctor Who story spectacularly wrong. Alexandra Moen is also interviewed at Digital Spy.

Davies tells the Western Mail that his final two Doctor Who episodes will be "like all your Christmas presents rolled into one, right from your big present to the tiniest thing at the bottom of the stocking." The South Wales Echo also grabs a snippet from the Western Mail interview. Davies also talked to BBC News about handing over the Doctor Who reins to Steven Moffat.

Bernard Cribbins will be interviewed on stage at the BFI on January 16. The conversation will be followed by a special screening of the 1966 film Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD, starring Cribbins and Peter Cushing. In the aftermath of Cribbins' recent special BAFTA award, he was profiled in The Independent and interviewed by Ken Russell in The Times.

Claire Bloom talks to The Times about her life and work, including a vague but possibly spoiler-ish mention of her role in The End of Time.

There have been a slew of stories lately about people who've made full-sized Daleks. One in Surrey is covered here, and another (from Birtley in Gateshead) is covered in tech blogs Übergizmo, Geeky Gadgets, Gizmodo and Electricpig. And an Atherton man who's built a full-size TARDIS replica is profiled in The Leigh Reporter (though it isn't clear whether he's built the interior or the exterior of the ship).

Even Christmas pageants can't escape Doctor Who connections this year; pupils in the tiny North Yorkshire village of Ruswarp are putting on a Christmas pageant with a Doctor Who theme, and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) is directing the Nativity play at his old primary school in London.

It's not all The End of Time, though; Digital Spy interviews Colin Baker about completing "The Missing Stories" on audio for Big Finish.

The Daily Mail has a general preview of The End of Time, and The Sun has a somewhat spoilery photo of John Simm from the story.

The Sun has an article on Catherine Tate's Christmas special, in which she says that she and David Tennant will be "like the Richard & Judy of Christmas", due to being on UK television so much over the holiday season. Of Tennant's appearances, Doctor Who and Hamlet are listed by The Independent as part of its "Twelve TV Treats of Christmas" list.

The Times includes Tennant's Hamlet in its round-up of the best theatre of the past decade, and the return of Doctor Who in its list of the decade's best television. BBC News has also commissioned a "portrait of the decade", which includes the return of Doctor Who as one of the key cultural events and David Tennant as one of the top 20 people of the decade.

Finally, Paul Cornell, writer of the Doctor Who episodes "Father's Day", "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" as well as several acclaimed novels, has published a new Doctor Who story on his blog for Christmas. Cornell says that the story is being presented "purely as fan fiction, with no money being made." It's lovely, and you should read it.

David Tennant has given a brief interview to BBC News, talking about his feelings on leaving the role of the Doctor.

The interview was recorded on the TARDIS set in May. As he nears the end of his time in Doctor Who, Tennant tells Lizo Mzimba about how the role has affected him and his thoughts on his final story.

Part of the interview was also shown on the BBC's main evening news programme, The Six O'Clock News.

The press showing of The End of Time is Thursday night in London.

Several papers have picked up on the arrival of the TARDIS at Caerphilly Castle in South Wales. The appearance is to promote the castle's Medieval Christmas fayre this weekend. The blue police box is located on top of the Inner East Gatehouse tower and will be lit up during the night. It will stay there until the New Year.

The castle was used to film some scenes for The End of Time.

The story is reported in The Mirror, The Sun, Wales Online and BBC News. Thanks to ahremsee of Gallifrey Base for the pictures.

BBC News have published an article looking into the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the 1979 Tom Baker story Shada.

The piece is written by Shaun Ley and is in conjunction with his Radio 4 programme Shelved, due for transmission this weekend.

The article provides new insight as to why the programme was abandoned. In the BBC Official History, being written by Professor Jean Seaton, it is suggested that the programme was sacrificed deliberately to make a political point regarding the effects of industrial action by the Broadcasting Unions.

The full programme can be heard on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday.

The previously-reported cover feature of the Christmas double issue of the Radio Times is by no means the only exposure Doctor Who is receiving from British TV listings magazines this Christmas. Most prominently, two other such publications have also produced Doctor Who-themed covers for their festive specials. TV & Satellite Week has a cover based around "The End of Time", while Total TV Guide's cover shows Father Christmas hand-painting TARDIS toys. The TV Times also features Doctor Who on its cover in a less prominent role, with an inset image of a Dalek promoting their own "Win a Dalek" competition.

Inside, the Radio Times is filled with Doctor Who-related material and previews. There is an in-depth interview with David Tennant, where the actor speaks about his thoughts on moving on to the next phase of his career. "Doctor Who has meant so much to me," he tells the magazine. "It's great to sign off with a flourish." Both parts of "The End of Time" are highlighted in the "Today's Choices" preview section for their respective days, with part one "Pick of the Day" for Christmas Day, described by the magazine's TV editor Alison Graham as a "thoughtful story." In the radio listings section, David Tennant's turns as interviewee (on Sunday 27th December's "Desert Island Discs") and interviewer (of Russell T Davies, on Tuesday 29th December's "Who on Who?") are also picked out as highlights of their respective days.

Both TV & Satellite Week and Total TV Guide also speak to Tennant about how he feels to be giving up the role of the Doctor. "Being a celebrity doesn't sit easily with me," he tells the former. "It's part of the job, but if that died down it would be OK." In Total TV Guide, he says of his successor Matt Smith that "I think he'll be good for the role because he has an unusual look. He could be either 18 or 40. I hope that doesn't offend him!" Both magazines make "The End of Time" their Christmas Day highlight, with TV & Satellite Week saying that "there's no doubt this year's two-part story will top all previous offerings," while Total TV Guide calls it "a fitting farewell for David Tennant's incarnation of the Time Lord." Both magazines also speak to Catherine Tate about her own Christmas special; she tells TV & Satellite Week of her appearance in "The End of Time" that: "It was sad, but I was delighted to be in the episodes. David is a brilliant actor and has brought everything he could to the role."

You can keep track of all major Doctor Who-related programmes on British TV and radio this Christmas with our broadcast summary.

The BBC's Doctor Who Advent Calendar isn't the only spot on the web with a daily Doctor Who treat this month. SFX is making a daily countdown to The End of Time on its blog. Highlights so far have included an interview with Russell T Davies, split into three parts here, here and here, as well as pieces on "27 Things SFX Loves About New Who", "How New Doctor Who Has Changed Everything" and "The Greater Spotted David Tennant"; the last includes a summary of all the places David Tennant will be appearing on UK TV and radio this month, as well as some that he probably won't but could. Meanwhile, the BBC's Director of Vision Jana Bennett, the woman in overall charge of the BBC's television services, has written a blog entry praising Doctor Who's place at the heart of the corporation's Christmas television line-up.

Speaking of Tennant, filming has begun on the pilot for Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, the American TV series starring Tennant as a Chicago lawyer who suffers from panic attacks. The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Star have short articles about Tennant's casting in the NBC series and his future in Hollywood.

In other news, Karen Gillan's former drama coach brags about her ex-student in the Daily Record; thisissouthwales.co.uk has a brief item on an appearance by Colin Baker and 117 toy Daleks; and the Wigan Evening Post has an item on a Doctor Who fan who's built a replica TARDIS to raise funds for a local cancer centre.

Finally, in response to a fan's query on Twitter, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Brent Spiner expressed interest in playing a villain on Doctor Who.


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The Evening Standard reports that the new European Union Representative for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Ashton, is the proud owner of a full sized Dalek. The replica was given to her by her husband as a fiftieth birthday present and proudly greets visitors to their home.

Michael Moorcock has written in the Guardian about Doctor Who and his new commission to write a novel for BBC Books first reported here.

BBC Worldwide has won its court case over the administrator of retail chain Woolworths in a dispute over 2entertain, the company which produces the classic series DVD's. BBC Worldwide, which already has a 60% majority stake in 2entertain, now has first option to buy up the remaining shares at an appropriate value. A spokesman for BBC Worldwide told Broadcast Magazine "This latest judgment fully upholds the position we have maintained from the outset, and we now look forward to being able to move ahead with taking full ownership of 2entertain". The dispute is over ownership of the company and will not affect the production of Doctor Who DVD's.

Doctor Who was mentioned in the US TV series NCIS when Tim McGee, the character played by Sean Murray, mentioned that the container trailer they were investigating reminded him of the TARDIS. "A contraption Doctor Who travels in time and space" His companion replies "Doctor Who? Who watches that?"

A revised version of the BBC iPlayer has been launched as a dedicated channel on the Nintendo Wii. The new version is faster and has a full-screen user interface. It is available free from the Wii shop.

Reviews of the UK première of The Waters of Mars are now available online.

NB The reviews have been published after the showing of the episode in the UK. Please do not click on the links if you want the plot to remain unspoiled. Reviews are available from The Guardian, The Mirror, TV Overmind, Den of Geek, Digital Spy, Coventry Telegraph, Express and Star, Metro, Monsters and Critics, Unreality TV

The podcast to accompany the episode, featuring Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and David Tennant, is now on the BBC iPlayer.

The BBC Press Office have released details for the broadcast of the animated Doctor Who adventure Dreamland. Episode One will premiere on Saturday 21st November on the BBC's Red Button service, and the subsequent five episodes each day thereafter. The episodes will be available all day on Sky and Virgin, with a limited service on Freeview. The episodes will also be available from the BBC's Doctor Who website, which will be enhanced by a brand new comic reader application.

David Tennant today launched The Waters of Mars, which airs on Sunday November 15 at 7pm on BBC One. The episode is the second Doctor Who special to be screened this year, and Tennant will also star in two more shows before bowing out at Christmas.

Tennant said he was excited for new Doctor Matt Smith, saying: "I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey and nerve-wracking. I'm jealous that he's going through that now - but it couldn't happen to a nicer chap. I'm looking forward to not knowing what happens next. I'm looking forward to being a viewer again."

Of the special, Tennant said: "The Doctor finds himself in a situation where he knows what the end is. It's all about whether he can un-knit the inevitable. With this particular Time Lord's life coming to an end, if he starts fiddling with the fundamentals of time and space, it might lead to his undoing."



Tennant said: "The Doctor now knows incontrovertibly that he's running from his own demise." He described shooting the final scenes as "emotional" but said that as they were filmed out of sequence, the situation did not get too weepy. The actor said the last line he said as the Doctor was: "'You two, with me, spit spot'... so it was robbed of any epic quality. It was very emotional saying cheerio. Filming the final scene was very, very sad. There's lots of scenes in the final, final story that are very sad and were very sad to play."

Tennant spoke about the big opportunities that arose in killing off the current tenth incarnation of the Doctor, to take the story "to places we've never quite been before". He said: "It allows it to be bigger and more epic and wilder... and sadder."

Tennant said he had originally felt under some pressure in taking on the role, saying: "It means so much to so many people. It meant so much to me." He said the bit he would miss the most was "when the new script comes. That was always such a thrill. It was always surprising." Asked if he felt he was in danger of becoming typecast, Tennant said: "I seem to have managed to do quite a variety of things while I've been doing Doctor Who. I haven't felt that it has been anything other than a positive." The star said he had his own sonic screwdriver which he kept locked up in a "secure location" in case his house was burgled.

On playing the role, he said: "You're not really expected to follow what went before, you're sort of expected to go your own way and mess it up a little bit the Doctor is different each time. You know James Bond is always James Bond and Tarzan is always Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes is always Sherlock Holmes but the Doctor is up to you, it's a blank sheet and you can scribble all over it, it's up to you."

He compared the job to being the United States president, saying: "You always get to be called the Doctor."

At the launch, Executive producer Russell T Davies confirmed The Waters of Mars will be dedicated to former producer Barry Letts. Davies paid tribute to his predecessor saying "He was one of the finest producers of Doctor Who and many programmes.. He used to do the Sunday afternoon classic serials and he actually produced the Jon Pertwee years. And then he cast Tom Baker. He cast Lis Sladen as well. He was an extraordinary figure in Doctor Who history and in pop culture – and he passed away, sadly. So, of course, we wanted to have that tribute to him on screen."

The launch has been covered by BBC News, The Guardian and BBC Newsbeat.

Journalist Ian Wylie has posted the full transcript of the press launch with Tennant and Davies on his blog.