Doctor Who: Last Christmas was watched by 6.3 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Doctor Who was the seventh most watched programme of the day, with BBC One once again dominating Christmas night viewing. Mrs Brown's Boys which had 7.6 million watching, topped the list for the second year running, albeit with a much lower rating than last year.

Ratings across the board were down on previous years, last year The Time of the Doctor had 8.3 million watching. Final figures, released next week, which include those who record the programme for later viewing, should see Doctor Who move up the chart.

This items contains spoilers from the Christmas Special

The BBC has confirmed that Jenna Coleman will be staying with Doctor Who for the foreseeable future, with the actress signed up for the entire run of Series Nine.

The confirmation follows speculation that Coleman would leave the series after the Christmas special, Last Christmas, or part way through the next series. Head writer Steven Moffat told an invited audience at the Press Screening for Last Christmas that he was delighted the actress was staying with the show, although he admitted it was touch and go for a while. Coleman said she was delighted to be stayingDoctor Who Season 35 begins shooting in January.

6.3 million watched Doctor Who: Last Christmas according to unofficial overnight figures.

Full details follow

The BBC have released preview clips from Last Christmas and the accompanying Doctor Who Extra.


Meanwhile the latest Radio Times free downloadable retro poster, created by designer Stuart Manning is now available.

Manning told Radio Times:

The Doctor has been voted the Best Sci-Fi Character of All Time in a survey conducted by the British Film Institute

Thousands voted in the survey, which has been running since August, which saw the timelord top the list, just beating Ellen Ripley from the Alien saga by a mere 110 votes and out raking such icons as Darth Vader, Mr Spock and Fox Mulder.

The most popular companion was Rose Tyler who came in at number 44 on the list, closely followed by Donna Noble at 46 and Amy Pond at 69. Sarah Jane Smith, who had her own spin off series in the form of The Sarah Jane Adventures came in at number 65.

River Song came in at number 73 while the Doctor's nemesis, The Master was number 90.

Captain Jack Harkness was 13th in the list with his Torchwood colleague Ianto Jones making 19 and Gwen Cooper coming in at 87.

Only one Doctor Who Monster made the list, with The Daleks at number 32.

Characters from television rather than cinema were prefered, with characters originating on the small screen taking 61% of the vote. 22% of votes went for characters from the 1980s, 28% from the 1990s and 20% from the 2000s.

60% of votes were for male characters, with 33% for female, non-specific entities chalking up 6% and one character qualifying as both – following Michelle Gomez’ casting as the Master/Missy in this year’s series of Doctor Who.

The full list is on the BFI website.

If you look up into the sky tonight,
You may see a surprising sight.
For Santa has some help this year,
Spreading all that Christmas cheer...

The BBC have released a clip from a forthcoming Royal Institution Christmas Lecture featuring a Robot orchestra performing the Doctor Who theme.

The lecture, entitled A New Revolution is due to be shown on BBC Four next Wednesday at 8pm.

Wednesday January 7, 2015 sees the release of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #6 by Robbie Morrison and Daniel Indro. This issue comes with a special cover by artist Tommy Lee Edwards. Comes with three covers to collect including a special cover by artist Tommy Lee Edwards.

Only the bravest would dare to go,
For a kiss under the Missy-toe...