The BBC have issued a statement reported by the Press Association to refute any decisions made by cast or crew over the fourth series of Doctor Who.

Reported by BBC News, CBBC, icWales, Press Association, 24dash, Manchester Evening News.

The Thursday issue of the Sun is reporting that David Tennant is to quit the title role of Doctor Who midway through the fourth series. The story is headlined on the front page (see right) with the article on page five (see quote box below).

It is worth stressing that, so far, this story is unconfirmed, and Tennant and the production team are still working on the forthcoming third series. A fourth series is yet to be officially commissioned by the BBC, but assuming it goes ahead, it wouldn't be due to hit our screens until Spring 2008 and would mark Tennant's third season in the role. Tennant's first complete story was in the Christmas special 2005.

Update: In an unhelpful move, BBC Radio One have managed to mis-report the story in the Sun this morning, with news summaries during their breakfast programme quoting a newspaper as saying that Tennant will leave "during the next series". Naturally, many listeners may assume this is referring to the forthcoming third series yet to begin broadcasting. However, this is still quoting the tabloid, even if it is a mis-quote, and does not validate the story. The Metro is also quoting The Sun's report, offering no additional information.

(Humorous footnote: There may not be any official confirmation or denial about the story as yet, but there is a "News In Briefs" comment by Thursday's page three model - Katie, 22, from Liverpool - who is reported to be "gutted" that Tennant was supposed to be leaving. She is quoted as saying: "He was brilliant in the show and it won't be the same without him. Not only was he a great actor - but I could swoon over him as well!" Additional reporting by John Bowman)

Below are several screen grabs from David Tennant's appearance last night on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, including a Dalek toy introducing Tennant to Ross and the audience, the singers with Tennant's face on their shirts, and even a new 'action figure' of the tenth Doctor! Click on each for a larger version. Tennant appeared on the talk show to promote tomorrow night's airing of "The Christmas Invasion" and his debut as the Doctor.

David Tennant's appearance as guest presenter on Channel 4 entertainment show The Friday Night Project, reported at the beginning of this month on Outpost Gallifrey, is scheduled to be broadcast on January 5 at 11.05pm.

As the celebrity guest in the first edition of the fourth series, alongside comedians Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr, he will be providing an opening monologue, as well as performing comedy sketches and participating in games.

It is not known if there will be a question-and-answer session with the audience, as there was last January when Billie Piper was a guest host.

Oh, yes he is! David Tennant will be playing Buttons in a radio pantomime of Cinderella. Thandie Newton takes the title role, and Brian Blessed (Yrcanos in the 1986 Doctor Who story The Trial of a Time Lord) will be the town crier/narrator. The pantomime will air on Virgin Radio on Thursday, December 21 starting at 7:30 AM (GMT); morning DJChristian O'Connell will play Prince Charming. You can listen to the pantomime live via Virgin Radio's website.

There are more details at the Independent and BBC News. You can discuss this story in our forum here.

David Tennant interview

There is a short interview with David Tennant in It's Hot magzine (BBC, issue 59). On being asked what the strangest thing about 'being Doctor Who', he replies: "Action figures. They're really, really weird. They're good likenesses, but just so unlike anything to do with real life. I collected Star Wars figures as a child, then suddenly someone's presenting you with one that's... you!" He also mentions that at school his worst subject was maths "and related things like physics," and that he was "never into sport - I was more interested in telly. I managed to just about avoid being 'the weird geek boy' by being willing to loon around a bit."

On working with Freema Agyeman, David remarks: "Freema was a joy to work with in episode 12 of the last series. She is not only very talented and beautiful, she's great fun and I'm delighted she's coming on board the TARDIS full time. I can't wait to welcome her into the Who family!"

Billie Piper on "size zero" models

Billie Piper has criticized the presentation of super-skinny "size zero" models and stars as female role models. Speaking to Glamour magazine, Piper said, "I think the whole size zero debate is disgusting.

"My sister, who is 13, looks amazing but she's already worried about her figure," she continued. "She loves Posh [Victoria Beckham] and I say 'Come on Ellie, she's tiny. What's wrong with Shakira? She's sexy, curvy'. But she has no interest."

The story, sometimes combined with similar comments by Kate Winslet, has been widely covered in the British press and elsewhere. You can read more or less the same story at (deep breath): BBC News, the Independent, the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Mirror, the Daily Record, the Manchester Evening News, Reuters, ITV, Ireland Online, the Evening Standard, Digital Spy, Sky News, FemaleFirst.co.uk, inthenews.co.uk, Fametastic, andPOPand Entertainmentwise.com. The Daily Star put the story (under the heading "Billie Sniper") on its front page on Monday, and news sources as far afield as Australia (the Herald-Sun), Romania, India and the United Arab Emirates have picked up the story from wire services.

Is it a coincidence that Winslet's first major TV role was in Russell T. Davies's groundbreaking children's fantasy Dark Season?

More Billie

Easier.com has a story about the upcoming adaptation of The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman, which will star Billie Piper as Victorian heroine Sally Lockhart. The programme will air on BBC One on 27 December at 8.30pm.

Fans in Piper's hometown of Swindon can meet her at a signing at Borders Bookshop this Saturday between 1 and 3pm. This is a change from the previously announced time; you can read the full story at the Swindon Advertiser.

Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate is interviewed in this week's Heat magazine. Asked if she has always been a Doctor Who fan Tate replies:

"Well, I'm not an obsessive fan, but I used to watch it. For me, the big thing was to work with Russell T Davies and David Tennant. The fact that it's Doctor Who, which is such an iconic thing, is brilliant."

On being asked if it was amazing to be on set, Tate comments: "Yeah, of course, It was really exciting. I mean, it depends on whether you're a massive Doctor Who fan or not. I'm certainly a massive Russell and David fan, and to be inside the Tardis was incredible - it was such a fun thing to do." Working with David Tennant was "Brilliant. He's fantastic. I love his work. I've watched him do so much stuff on stage, and I've probably followed his career more closely than he realises! It was an absolute blast working with him."

Discussing The Runaway Bride being filmed in July and pretending it was Christmas: "I was hot in the wedding dress I had to wear, but [the supporting artists] had to wear hats and scarves and gloves! It was so hot, it was almost illegal. I worried for their human rights."

When asked if she will be watching her Doctor Who debut on Christmas Day, Tate replies: "Oh God, yeah. I mean, I don't usually like watching myself on screen, but this isn't about me. Whereas with my show I'm really critical of stuff, this is just something I was a part of and had a blast on. It's not a comfortable experience watching myself, but because it'sDoctor Who I'll do it."

Euros Lyn in TV Zone

Director Euros Lyn is interviewed in January's (issue 210) TV Zone (part of which is online) where he discusses The Runaway Bride. “I think one of the things about this series of Doctor Who is that the Doctor is taking his experiences with him... There’s always either inferred references, or specific references to his experiences as he’s lived them. So the robot Santas do come back and the Doctor obviously recognizes them because he’s met them before". On Rose’s absence, the Doctor "can’t not experience pain and loss for Rose, so that hang-over’s is very real and very present to him. Instead of Rose, there’s now Donna for the Doctor to deal with, at least for now. It’s incredibly different, for the main reason that the central relationship in this film is a new one and it’s profoundly different to the Doctor and Rose... when the audience watch it they will see something, a new Doctor Who that they’ve not experienced." On Catherine Tate's character, Euros comments: "She’s a handful, that’s for sure. A feisty, red-headed handful.”

Louise Jameson on Stage

Louise Jameson, who played the savage Leela opposite the Fourth Doctor in the 1970s, will be appearing opposite playwright/actor Steven Berkoff in his play Sit and Shiver, which opens at the Hackney Empire on January 25. More details at the London Theatre Guide.

Torchwood Renewal

The story of Torchwood being renewed for a second season, and moving to BBC Two, is covered at BBC News, The Sun, the Western Mail, The Stage, Sci Fi Wire and Sy Fy Portal.

John Barrowman

The Pink Paper mentions John Barrowman's wedding in Cardiff later this month. It also mentions that whilst 'the cast of Torchwood is waiting to hear whether a second series has been commissioned', 'Barrowman said he should also be soon reading scripts for the next Doctor Who series'. The story is also carried at gay.com.

Barrowman's civil partnership isn't the only change in his domestic life: he's also adopted a 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel named Teagan. The story (with photo) can be found at K9 Magazine (which still isn't about the tin dog).

Broadcasting
The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK ran an article by Stephen Armstrong on peer-to-peer filesharing on December the 10th, which highlighted Doctor Who as one of the programmes that may suffer a fragmentation in its audience from internet downloading. "One of the great triumphs of Saturday-evening television recently has been that shows such asThe X Factor and Doctor Who have proved genuine family viewing. In many households, 5-7pm on Saturday is the only point in the week when everyone spends time in the same room. Downloading is likely to cut that last bond. The Heroesmay save the planet, but they are helping to make the world a lonelier place."

What PC? has a story about the business challenges and opportunities presented by the migration of viewers from traditional broadcasting to online video content, suggesting that the trend "must be slightly worrying for the big terrestrial broadcasters, who throw hundreds of pounds at cutting-edge programming like Torchwood."

And some Christian clergy have criticized the BBC's choice of music for a Christmas programming trailer which included clips of The Runaway Bride. The trailer was set to the satirical strains of "Christmas with the Devil" by mock rock bandSpinal Tap, but one retired reverend called the juxtaposition of Christmas and pseudo-satanic lyrics "disgusting, diabolical". The canon of Birmingham Cathedral said, "I’ve enough to do without having to defend God from things like this." (This editor believes that the Almighty can hold his own against the threat of Spinal Tap.)

The story is in The Sun.

Reviews and Previews

Heat reviews this week's Torchwood episode, awarding it 4 (out of 5) stars. "Earlier in the series we suggested that someTorchwood storylines were a bit similar to movies like Men In Black and Species. Subsequent episodes, however, showed Russell T Davies had plenty of ideas, and we ate our words. Tonight, though, a plane that disappeared in 1953 re-emerges in Cardiff, like in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (except the Cardiff bit). Which means we regurgitate our words a little." (previewer: Chris Longridge)

At The Scotsman, reviewer Andrea Mullaney was critical of the Torchwood team, saying that their "seeming inability to learn from their mistakes is becoming annoying."

Heat gives The Runaway Bride their maximum 5 stars and comments: "Last year, Russell T Davies came up with a brilliantly dramatic, yet Christmassy Doctor Who special. This year, he goes one better by securing the talents of TV's woman-of-the-moment Catherine tate, playing a bride-to-be who ends up in the Tardis rather than at the altar. Turns out she's the key to an alien plan to take over the universe, masterminded by Sarah Parish!" (previewer: Boyd Hilton)

Closer magazine has Harry Hill comment on what TV to watch over Christmas, and regarding the Doctor Who Christmas Special he remarks: "Who'd have thought Doctor Who would be cool again? Continuing the comic cameo trend set by Peter Kay, Catherine Tate plays a bride whose wedding is unterrupted by nasty aliens. The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss plays a mad scientist - is there a BBC show he hasn't been in? Personally, I'd like to see former Docs Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy pop up."

All About Soap magazine rates The Runaway Bride at number 2 in their Christmas Top 5 TV shows. "What a liberty! The TARDIS is Rose-less for this festive episode, but David Tennant is back as the tasty time-travelling Doctor. And as a special Christmas treat, he's got a guest companion - Catherine Tate as runaway bride, Donna! While the Doctor tries his best to get Donna to her wedding before it's too late, they battle robot Father Christmases and the sinister Empress of Racnoss, played by former Cutting It star Sarah Parish."

Inside Soap previews The Sarah Jane Adventures on New Year's Day. 'Millions of dads turned dewy-eyed in April when Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) made a brief return to Doctor Who after 30 years. And in autumn 2007, she'll be staring in a show of her own. As a curtain-raiser to that comes this one-off drama... Now living in London, journalist Sarah is researching an addictive fizzy drink that's taking the world by storm. Someone else who's also intrigued is Sarah's next-door neighbour Maria - a young girl who's whisked away to the manufacturer's factory for an encounter of the monstrous kind!' "When the programme makers first contacted me, I thought they were calling about Torchwood," laughs Elisabeth. "Ooh,' I said, 'I'm going to be in the 9pm slot for once!" However, unlike that show, this one is aimed at younger viewers - although nostalgic dads will also be welcome on the sofa!'

Miscellaneous Mentions

Doctor Who and Torchwood get namechecks in a couple of media sources this week:

Television reviewer Caitlin Moran, who has expressed her love for Doctor Who, refers to Torchwood and the Doctor Who episode "New Earth" in her review of Stephen Spielberg's Into the West in The Times.

An automobile reviewer at Luton Today, apparently desperate for a simile, said that the wheel arches of the new Dodge Caliber are "as fully blown as Billie Piper's lips."

And finally, from New Zealand, we have the story of "Manawatu's Doctor Who", who is making his own TARDIS out of recycled material. The story is at stuff.co.nz -- your guess is as good as ours.

(Additional material by Paul Hayes, Peter Weaver and Kenny Davidson.)

In the latest issue of of Doctor Who Adventures, David Tennant talks about what it is like to be TV's top time traveler.

In the article, Tennant reveals: "Getting to read the scripts before anyone else. It's when you find out where you are going next - and that's great!"

Tennant goes on to talk about life without Rose. "I am missing Rose, of course! I miss Billie because she's such a great friend and such a great actress. But Freema, who you'll see next year, is filling that gap beautifully and brilliantly!"

Doctor Who Adventures also speaks to the cast of The Sarah Jane Adventures, including Elisabeth Sladen.

Doctor Who Adventures is on sale Wednesday 13th December.

David Tennant has won Heat magazine's Best TV Acting Performance for his role in Doctor Who, voted for by the readers. The magazine comments: "Christopher Eccleston left big shoes to fill in the revived Doctor Who, but the effortlessly charming David Tennant did it with ease, playing especially well on the flirty, repressed love affair between the Doctor and Rose. But where was co-star Billie Piper on the list, eh?" (Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect - was voted in second place, and Lesley Sharp - Afterlife - in third.)

The Christmas double issue of the independent listings magazine TV and Satellite Week, currently available in UK shops, not only features Doctor Who on the cover (see December 7th news story) but also contains an interview withDavid Tennant as part of its preview feature for The Runaway Bride.

The final question Tennant is asked in the interview concerns how long he plans to remain in the role of the Doctor, with the magazine stating that: "You're only contracted to the end of the fourth series, but a lot of people would like you to stay in the role."

Tennant's reply is: "That's very nice, and it's a great job, too. It's certainly not something I would walk away from lightly. But at the moment I don't know, I'll wait till I'm asked, I think."

On Wednesday, Radio 4's PM programme asked why which Who matters, mentioning that David Tennant had won "favourite Doctor" in DWM's 2006 Doctor Who survey.

The piece included the Who theme tune and sound clips from the series of Tennant, William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. Eddie Mair then talked to fellow Radio 4 news presenter Shaun Ley (The World at One) about the show's enduring appeal.

Ley, describing himself as a fan, said Doctor Who had been a part of his childhood and that it was the most flexible format in broadcasting. Asked about whether Tennant deserved the accolade, Ley said that people are likely to vote for the incumbent but agreed that he'd given an amazing performance. He went on to praise Russell T Davies, saying it was quite an achievement getting two of the best actors of their generation - Tennant and Christopher Eccleston - for the part. Ley also said he had a real soft spot for Troughton: "He was a proper character actor, gave it real range, an actors' actor."

Mair ended the piece by reminding listeners that Ley was the presenter of The Worlds at One!