"Special Project Three" has been leaked onto the internet. (Russell T Davies has repeatedly mentioned that David Tennant had worked on three special Doctor Who projects this year, in addition to the four television specials; the first two were the Doctor's appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures and the animated serial Dreamland.) The third project consists of a special ident for BBC One featuring Tennant as the Doctor. A version of the ident for BBC Scotland has appeared on the website BlogtorWho. The official launch will be later this month, but the BBC have now released a still from the ident.

The BBC has started promoting its Christmas lineup with trails on BBC One. The drama version features several clips from Doctor Who and is available on the BBC YouTube Channel.

The Radio Times for 12 - 18 December confirms the Doctor Who edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks will be shown on Wednesday 16 December. David Tennant hosts the special show with team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding. Guests include Bernard Cribbins and Catherine Tate, plus platinum-selling jazz artist Jamie Cullum and Radio 1's Jo Whiley.

Broadcast on December 12th is the previously reported edition of Shelved, the BBC Radio Four documentary which looks at TV episodes which were scrapped because of prevailing political and social circumstances. The Doctor Who story Shada is one of the programmes investigated and Tom Baker takes part.

Meanwhile BBC Radio Seven have scheduled a repeat of An Hour with Jon Pertwee. The show on Saturday 12 December at 5pm is a radio version of Pertwee's one man biographical show.

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BBC America has confirmed they will show the final part of The End of Time on January 2nd, 2010 at 8pm ET.

The showing, just one day after the UK showing, will complete the three week run of specials with the Waters of Mars showing on December 19th and The End of Time Part One on 26th December.

An additional 695,000 viewers watched the BBC Three repeat of The Waters of Mars, according to official figures issued by BARB this week. The programme rated as the 4th highest watched on the channel for the week.

Over 550,000 have now watched the programme on the BBC iPlayer. When all ratings are added together The Waters of Mars has now been watched by 11.5 million people.

Full Ratings data and Audience analysis for the Specials can be found in Gallifrey Base.

The BBC Press Office has confirmed the scheduling of The End of Time, the two-part final adventure for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Part one will be shown from 6pm to 7pm on Christmas Day, Friday the 25th of December. Part two follows from 6.40-7.55pm the following Friday, 1st January 2010 - New Year's Day.

In other news, the latest edition of Radio Times has confirmed the casting of Claire Bloom and Brian Cox in The End of Time.

Claire Bloom's casting has been rumoured in many press reports over the last few months but this is the first official confirmation from the BBC that she is in the episode. She has a long career in film and Television appearing with Charlie Chaplin in the 1952 film Limelight for which she won the BAFTA for Best Newcomer. She later won the Best Actress BAFTA for the 1986 film Shadowlands. She is a renowned Shakespearian actress who received great acclaim for her portrayal of Ophelia in Hamlet when she was just seventeen.

Brian Cox provided the voice over for the Ood elder seen in the End of Time trail at the end of The Waters of Mars and was the mystery guest star refered to by Russell T Davies in his Production Notes in DWM. Cox is best known for his role as Hannibal Lecktor in the 1986 film Manhunter as well many Hollywood films and also for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Nuremberg in 2001.

David Tennant's starring role in Hamlet can be seen on BBC Two on Boxing Day, Saturday 26 December from 5.05-8.10pm. and the Catherine Tate special, Nan's Christmas Carol, can be seen on BBC One on Christmas Day at 10.30pm.

Doctor Who is currently filming in Croatia, the BBC has confirmed. The location work is for Matt Smith's first series as the Doctor, which is being made and promoted by the BBC as Series One.

The programme is currently shooting in the small coastal town of Trogir in Croatia, for an episode due for transmission in the Spring of 2010.

A local blog has posted several pictures from the location shoot here. A very rough translation of the text can be found here.

Additional reports can be found here and here.

Gadget The Robot has gone on display at the Doctor Who Exhibition in Coventry in the West Midlands.

The exhibition, which has an extended run until January, now features the Robot along with other props and costumes from The Waters of Mars including The Water Zombie and the costume of Captain Adelaide Brooks.

Visitors to the exhibition at Coventry Transport Museum, can also see Bessie, the Third Doctor's yellow roadster car and Jon Pertwee's costume.

Chief executive of the museum, Gary Hall, said: "The Doctor Who exhibition has been a big hit, with visitors coming again and again to see the exhibition. Getting new props for Christmas provides our visitors with a fantastic opportunity to visit the exhibition during Christmas holidays. We would urge people not to miss out on seeing the fantastic new props and costumes and posing next to Bessie for a photograph."

Note that although there is a charge to see the Doctor Who Exhibition, entry to the general museum is free. Visitors can see Bessie for nothing.

Doctor Who once again graces the front cover of the next issue of the Radio Times (5-11 Dec 2009); this edition features a three page preview for "The End of Time", including interviews with Bernard Cribbins and Russell T Davies who reveals that John Simm is back as the Master, the Doctor’s arch nemesis for nearly four decades.

Davies tells how he wasn't daunted by the inconvenience of having killed off the Master in 2007 – this is sci-fi, after all: “It’s personal for the Doctor. The Master is his enemy, his opposite, and yet so tantalisingly close to being his soul mate. There’s something epic about their sheer existence – the last two survivors of an ancient race. It’s a clash of the titans. Both of them heading for death, and yet both determined to survive – at any cost!”

Radio Times is on sale in the UK from Saturday.

You can find a gallery of previous Doctor Who covers on the Radio Times website.

The British Board of Film Classification has cleared not only The Waters of Mars for DVD release, but also the two parts of The End of Time.

The Waters of Mars has been given a 12 certificate meaning, in the opinion of the Board, the story is not suitable for anyone under that age. No one under 12 can rent or buy the DVD in the UK.

Both parts of The End of Time get a PG certificate meaning the programme is generally suitable for family viewing, but parents should consider the content before showing it to younger or sensitive children. Details submitted include the running time, which for Part One is 59 minutes 42 seconds with the final Tennant episode clocking in at 72 minutes 47 seconds.

Two new Confidential titles are revealed which are listed in the spoiler box below.

Also cleared is a 21 minute feature Doctor Who at Comic-Con International 2009. This may be a feature to be included in the Specials Box Set. The Comic Con was attended by David Tennant and Russell T Davies and saw the first screening of a promo for The End of Time.

The BBFC has also cleared four items believed to be connected to the mysterious Special Project 3 mentioned by Davies in his production notes in DWM.

In an interview with the website Bullz-Eye.com, Doctor Who writer Richard Curtis has confirmed the casting of actor Tony Curran in his episode of the forthcoming new series starring Matt Smith as the Doctor. Curtis also confirms the role Curran will be playing in the episode; for the benefit of readers who are avoiding such details this far in advance of the episode being shown, this information is contained in the clickable spoiler box below.

The Doctor Who Restoration Team have provided details of the restoration of the UK January DVD release, Peladon Tales. Full details of the extras are listed on the groups website.

On his website, Tom Baker has confirmed he recently recorded a commentary for the DVD release of the Season 15 story, The Sunmakers, with co-stars Louise Jameson and Michael Keating and Director Penant Roberts. Note that DVD commentaries are often recorded way ahead of release.

Tom Baker's audio story Hornet's Nest will be released as a box set on the 12 January 2010 on both sides of the Atlantic. The recording co-stars Richard Franklin. Parts 4 and 5 will be released in the UK on 3rd December.

ABC Television in Australia have confirmed that although The Waters of Mars will be shown on ABC HD, it will not be the genuine HD copy that will be seen, but a SD copy up-scaled. The reason cited is cost with ABC's Director of Television, Kim Dalton, saying the priority for the network is the development of SD channels rather than the HD one. There will however be a move to develop the HD output in 2010. The Waters of Mars comes to New Zealand this Sunday and to Australia a week later.