Doctor Who

On Monday, The Times published a cartoon by Morten Morland portraying Hillary Clinton as a Dalek, with Bill Clinton pushing her up a flight of stairs as she tells him, "Expiate!" It's odd that cartoonists still assume that Daleks have trouble with stairs, nearly 20 years after they were first shown levitating up them.

Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, visited Cardiff on Tuesday to celebrate the success of Doctor Who and Torchwood, and to promise continued investment in BBC Wales programming.BBC News has the story.

Readers of the Guardian's Organ Grinder blog have voted Doctor Who as their favorite TV show of 2007. This is the third year in a row Doctor Who has won the Organ Grinder poll.

Scottish novelist and comedian A. L. Kennedy, whose novel Day won the prestigious Costa Book of the Year award on Tuesday, told The Scotsman that she'd love to write a Doctor Who episode: "She's entirely serious about this, having been a fan of the series ever since she was four. 'I write asking them every six months, and I get increasingly high-ranking reject letters, each time explaining there's nothing they can do, and it's all down to [series writer] Russell T Davies.' "

The Daily Star's story about guest appearances in Series Four has been picked up by several sources, including The Press and Journal of Aberdeen and the Evening Post of Nottingham.

The Paisley Daily Express has a story about David Tennant's work as a celebrity patron for the Scottish-basedAssociation for International Cancer Research.

And Australia's New Idea magazine claims that Kylie Minogue is "putting the final touches on a deal" to return to Doctor Who as a series regular.

Torchwood

The TV Today blog at The Stage previews Wednesday's new episode of Torchwood, "Sleeper", saying that the series as a whole is "massively improved" and that "Sleeper is "sensitively, quietly told" but [feels] "the need to throw blood around with gay abandon."

The Western Mail lists Eve Myles in the "Championship" category of their "Fantasy Fame League" of Welsh celebrity -- the same level as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Charlotte Church. Gareth David-Lloyd is in "League One", the next level down.

TV Guide, The Boston Globe, The Star of Toronto, The Province of Vancouver, iF Magazine, MSN TV andMonsters and Critics all review the Torchwood Season 1 DVD set, which was released in North America on Tuesday.

The Boston Phoenix and the City Weekly of Salt Lake City preview "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" for their readers (Torchwood's second season debuts on BBC America on Saturday, January 26). Many news sources, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Arizona Republic and the CBC carry anAssociated Press article about the season. And the Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) recommends Torchwood to viewers hungry for heroic characters during the writers' strike.

(Thanks to "PolyG", "Darnall42", "Xtatoo", "outforawalk", "aaaa" and "admiratio" of the Doctor Who Forum.)

People

Hello! magazine's readers have voted David Tennant the third most attractive man, after Sean Bean and Hugh Laurie.

Catherine Tate spoke to the Toronto Star about her comedy series and her return to Doctor Who as Donna Noble. "What's great about doing Doctor Who is that it has a narrative, so it means that I can approach it more as a straight acting role," says Tate. "It's just nicer to have a story arc that lasts longer than, like, four minutes."

Contactmusic.com quotes Russell T. Davies as saying that being gay helped give him "an edge" over other aspiring writers.

Eighth Doctor Paul McGann was one of the celebrities on hand for the official opening of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture, reports theLiverpool Echo.

And Johnny Depp has denied rumors that he was seeking a role on Doctor Who, reports Teletext. (The story is no longer available on Teletext's website.)

Torchwood

Several news sources have published reviews of Torchwood's second series debut, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". These includeThe Times ("good, salacious knockabout fun"), The Times again ("funny, fast and daring"), The Daily Telegraph("leaden gags" and "a fantastically ungripping plot") and The Guardian ("parts of it were very, very funny").

American media are also covering the series ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" will debut on BBC America on Saturday, January 26); the Los Angeles Times calls the series "grown-up, dark, energetic and sometimes hard to keep track of." TheOrlando Sentinel (Florida), The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel(Wisconsin), the Akron Beacon-Journal (Ohio), the Erie News-Times (Pennsylvania) and the Fresno Bee(California) all report on the second series debut and/or Tuesday's DVD release of the first series.

The Huddersfield Examiner has an interview with John Barrowman.

The South Wales Echo has excerpts from an interview Eve Myles gave to Iconz magazine, in which she speaks of her love for Cardiff.

James Marsters' girlfriend enjoyed watching him kiss John Barrowman, according to The Sun andcontactmusic.com.

Miscellany

An article in The Sunday Times about the state of children's television in Britain quotes Russell T. Davies and notes that while television labelled as being for children is suffering, "family" programming like Doctor Who is thriving. Another column points to the success of Doctor Who as a model for adapting classic adventure novels to the screen.

Indeed, Doctor Who is such a success that BBC bosses are looking to apply its lessons beyond the realm of drama. In an interview with The Guardian BBC director general Mark Thompson used Doctor Who as an example of the sort of "creative energy" which the BBC should use in political coverage. Covering Thompson's remark, the Belfast Telegraphsuggested that BBC reporters covering Northern Ireland might already feel like time travelers.

Young Doctor Who fans in the Midlands can participate in a craft competition at the Stourport Library in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire. There are three age groups for the competition: ages 5 to 7, 8 to 10 and 11 to 13. Entrants can color a Doctor Who picture (available at the library) or make a Doctor Who-themed model. The Kidderminster Shuttlehas details of the competition.

The West Sussex Gazette has a feature article about classic Doctor Who filming in West Sussex.

The Doctor Who Up Close exhibition in Cardiff will be adding costumes from "Voyage of the Damned" to its collection, reports the Western Mail.

A columnist in The Scotsman notes that "apart from reality shows and similar swill, Doctor Who is the only programme that brings the nation together simultaneously: ironic, given that the Doctor is a Time Lord."

Technology website The Register describes a small flying robot being developed by the US military as a "proto-Dalek".

Doctor Who news shows up everywhere these days. Materials Handling World has a short article about the forklift featured in "Voyage of the Damned". No matter what your field is, there's nothing like a Doctor Who story to spice up your trade news, eh?

And the South Wales Echo has a story about a dad who built his kids a five-foot TARDIS replica to keep their toys in. Bless.

BBC Radio Wales will air the first installment of Torchwood All Access on Saturday 19 January at 1:33PM GMT. This will be an infrequent behind the scenes show similar to "Doctor Who Back In Time". Julian Carey will host. The episode will be available on the Radio Wales website for one week after broadcast.

The first episode of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang scored an Appreciation Index figure of 84. The programme was one of the most appreciated of the day.

The Appreciation Index, or AI, is a measure of how much the audience liked the programme. It is a score out of 100, based on responses from a carefully selected panel. The average score for drama on BBC1 and ITV1 is 77. A score in excess of 85 is regarded as excellent while a score below 60 is poor.

An edited version of episode One, suitable for pre watershed viewing, will be shown on BBC2 on Wednesday 23rd January at 7pm. Meanwhile the unedited version is available to UK viewers for the next few days, via the BBC iplayer.

Unofficial overnight figures gave Episode One of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, an audience of 3.7 million viewers, a 14.8% share of the total audience.

The programme was the highest rated on BBC2 for the day and the 18th most watched on all television.

These are the highest ratings that Torchwood has achieved on BBC2, although the previous series was shown on BBC3 first.

The programme was repeated on BBC3 at 2330 where it got 247,000viewers.

As previously reported, Titan Magazines has launched the official Torchwood Magazine, the first issue of which is due out on January 24. Below is the official press release; the final cover is also available (click on the thumbnail for a larger version.)

Series Two of Torchwood is poised to start showing on the United States' high-definition cable channel HDNet fromMonday, February 11.

According to the channel's website, it will air at 7pm Eastern Time, although the site also carries the disclaimer that schedules are subject to change.

HDNet is available on several cable systems as well as satellite and began showing the first series last September.

(Thanks to Tony Mason and Nick Fitzpatrick.)

People

The Sun reports that David Jason has been approached for a Doctor Who role, but was unable to accept because of his contract with ITV.

The Daily Star writes that David Tennant has been "unsettled" by the attentions of an overeager fan; the story is also reported by MSN and Digital Spy.

The Daily Telegraph cites Billie Piper as the prime example of "thoroughly nice people" in an article on being nice and its drawbacks.

Merchandise

The Doctor Who Annual was the top-selling annual this Christmas, reports The Bookseller. This is the second year in a row that the BBC Books annual has beaten the traditional winner, the Beano Annual.

Also, The Sun has a story about the new line of Doctor Who models from Airfix.

Torchwood

The Daily Telegraph has a behind-the-scenes look at Torchwood's second series. The article quotes Russell T. Davies saying that the first series was too angst-ridden: "I think that was us in the office, being in such a rush to make it that we were projecting our worries onto the screen," Davies says. The article also quotes Freema Agyeman, speaking about how the move to Torchwood fits with the character development of Martha Jones.

SFX continues its "Torchwood week" with interviews with writer/producer Chris Chibnall, producer Richard Stokesand Gwen Cooper herself, Eve Myles.

It looks as if this second series of Torchwood may be the last for Chris Chibnall. Digital Spy reports that Chibnall will produce the forthcoming Law & Order: London for Kudos and ITV.

And finally, from the Western Mail, the sales negotiator for a Welsh house-builder refers to a Cardiff apartment complex as being "right next to the Torchwood tower". Is the Rift blurring the borders between fiction and reality?

Thanks to "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

The BBC's Programme Information for the week of January 12-18 includes details of Torchwood's second series premiere, "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", and tidbits about upcoming storylines in the series. The date and time of broadcast are not yet confirmed.