The BBC has released new pictures from the upcoming episode of Doctor Who - Orphan 55.

The story is written by Ed Hime, who penned the 2018 story It Takes You Away and is directed by Lee Haven Jones The episode can be seen on BBC One at 7.10pm next Sunday. North American viewers can see it at 8pm ET, while in Australia the episode debut's is on Thursday at 8pm. In New Zealand, it can be seen at 9am, Monday morning, just a couple of hours after the UK showing.

Full broadcast details can be found here, and ongoing adventures of the Doctor can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.

COMING SOON | Orphan 55

Doctor Who Spyfall Part Two, was watched by 4.6 million viewers in the UK yesterday according to unofficial overnight figures.

The rating, representing 22.6% of the total viewing audience, was disappointing for the series making Doctor Who the fifth most popular show on British Television yesterday. Doctor Who was beaten by its ITV opposition, Dancing on Ice: The Launch, which had 5.14 million viewers.

Top for the day was the return of Call the Midwife, with 6.97 million viewers. Countryfile, the lead into Doctor Who, had 5.04 million. Football also did well with Match of the Day seen by 5.14 million during the afternoon.

With overnight figures for the whole week now available, Doctor Who is the 24th and 28th most watched programme. Top for the week was the New Year Fireworks on BBC One with 10.33 million watching.

The overnight figure counts those who watched the show yesterday. Final figures, released next Monday, will include those who recorded the programme and watched it later and are likely to be substantially higher.

Audience reaction to the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who, Spyfall, is overwhelmingly positive with many reviewers praising the story.

The Mirror said it was an epic start to the new series. "the most exciting thing about the episode is the never-ending twists and turns that quite literally left my jaw hanging open."

Radio Times was equally impressed seeing the story as a vast improvement on the previous series. "Part One races along and is slickly directed by newcomer Jamie Magnus Stone. His grandfather was Magnus Magnusson, the broadcasting legend behind the BBC quiz, Mastermind. A clue hidden in plain sight?"

The Telegraph liked the pace "The episode – the first of a two-parter – zipped along, with Whittaker doing her hyperactive thing and her companions (Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill) given generous amounts of screen time."

Den of Geek loved the plot twists "Spyfall, as you might expect from an episode that’s so gleefully borrowing from 007 and his kin, is a globetrotting adventure that barely ever stands still long enough to catch its breath"

inews compared the episode to the thirteenth Doctor's first season. "Whittaker’s debut series established a Doctor Who that had never looked more slick or cinematic, but Spyfall goes even further, with huge, stylish, lavishly shot set-pieces like a frantic, gun-toting motorbike chase through striking Californian farmland."

The series premiered on New Year's Day on BBC One where it received an Appreciation Index score of 82

Doctor Who Spyfall Part One, was watched by an average of 4.88 million viewers, 21.6% of the total TV audience at the time.

The audience is slightly lower than last year's New Year Special which had an overnight figure of 5.15 million watching.

Doctor Who was the second-highest-rated show for the day with Emmerdale taking top honours with 5 million watching. Coronation Street was third, just behind Doctor Who. The new Steven Moffat series Dracula had 3.57 million watching.

The rating does not include those recording the programme and watching it later. Final ratings will be released in two weeks time which are likely to put Doctor Who as the top-rated show of the day.

Doctor Who returns to TV screens around the world today with the launch of the 38th series of the show, the twelfth since the series returned in 2005. The series returns with Spyfall, written by showrunner Chris Chibnall and starring Jodie Whittaker as the thirteenth Doctor. The series launches on BBC One at 6.55pm on New Year's Day, with the Australian/New Zealand debut about an hour later at 6:55am AEDT/9:00am NZDT on ABC's online iView service and TVNZ 2, and the American/Canadian debut following a few hours later at 8pm ET on BBC America and CTV Sci-Fi channel. Viewers in Australia can also see it on television at at 7.30pm on ABC.

Full broadcast details can be found here, and ongoing adventures of the Doctor can be found via This Week in Doctor Who.