Every year there is speculation on which show will top the British TV ratings on Christmas Day. Fans and media commentators also speculate how well Doctor Who will fare against other festive programmes.

This year, the odds given by online betting company Skybet place Doctor Who as coming in second place at 6/4, with the top spot expected to be Eastenders with its usual 'explosive' Christmas storyline, at 4/6. Third place is given to the other perennial soap Coronation Street, at 12/1.

Most popular programme of the year (so far!) has been the ITV juggernaut The X-Factor, which saw a peak of some 19m+ viewers tune in to the final last weekend. In terms of average ratings for the entire programme, the final Britain's Got Talent, also on ITV1, in May, is currently the top-rated show of 2009.





Tune in for The End of Time part one on Christmas Day, BBC1/HD, 6:00pm!

The press screening for Part One of The End of Time took place in studio TC8 at BBC Television Centre on Thursday evening. This was an appropriate venue, as TC8 was used for many recordings of classic Doctor Who, including a previous regeneration story, Planet of the Spiders, the swansong of Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor.

The screening was attended by Russell T Davies, John Simm and Bernard Cribbins, who answered questions from the audience.

Others at the screening included Catherine Tate, who played Donna Noble in Series 4 and who returns for the special,  David Harewood, Claire Bloom and Alaxandra Moen, as well as Steven Moffat, who has now taken over from Davies as Executive Producer of Doctor Who. Also in attendance, and marking the importance the BBC places on Doctor Who, was the man in charge of the corporation, Director-General Mark Thompson.

Reviews of the evening with reasonably few spoliers can be read on BBC News, in SFX, on freelance journalist Ian Wylie's Blog and on Total Sci-Fi Online.

Cable channel Space have issued a Press Release on the Canadian showing of The End of Time on 2nd January, originally reported here. As well as previewing the upcoming special the Channel will be devoting InnerSPACE on December 18th to Doctor Who including an interview with Russell T Davies. The channel also confirms it will be showing Matt Smith's first series in the Spring of 2010.

Meanwhile Australian fans are being offered the chance to download Voyage of the Damned free from iTunes courtsy of Australian paper The Age.
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The BBC have released a couple of Christmas messages from David Tennant, as The Doctor, wishing viewers a Merry Christmas, both of which are available on the BBC's YouTube Channel.

The last time The Doctor gave a Christmas message was 44 years ago at the end of the episode The Feast of Steven, broadcast on Christmas Day 1965, when William Hartnell raised a glass and wished a 'happy Christmas to all of you at home.'





The YouTube channel also has a number of clips from the upcoming Doctor Who themed edition of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

David Tennant's Doctor Who finale, The End of Time Part Two, will be celebrated by two free pub events, both running from 3pm to 10:30pm on New Year's Day. One takes place in London in Farringdon, with the other taking place in Manchester at The Lass O'Gowrie pub on Charles Street.

Says Doctor Who fan and Lass O'Gowrie publican Gareth Kavanagh: "We'll be using all our big screens and pub system to create a fantastic atmosphere befitting the end of an era. It's free to attend - however, it's first come, first served. Under-16s are fine to stay until 9.30pm but they must be accompanied by an adult." For more details contact Gareth at info@thelass.co.uk.

The London event is organised by Jeremy Bentham, who has arranged parties for the premiere of all four series of 21st Century Doctor Who to date; for more details on where the party will take place, contact him at jjbentham@aol.com.

The previously-reported cover feature of the Christmas double issue of the Radio Times is by no means the only exposure Doctor Who is receiving from British TV listings magazines this Christmas. Most prominently, two other such publications have also produced Doctor Who-themed covers for their festive specials. TV & Satellite Week has a cover based around "The End of Time", while Total TV Guide's cover shows Father Christmas hand-painting TARDIS toys. The TV Times also features Doctor Who on its cover in a less prominent role, with an inset image of a Dalek promoting their own "Win a Dalek" competition.

Inside, the Radio Times is filled with Doctor Who-related material and previews. There is an in-depth interview with David Tennant, where the actor speaks about his thoughts on moving on to the next phase of his career. "Doctor Who has meant so much to me," he tells the magazine. "It's great to sign off with a flourish." Both parts of "The End of Time" are highlighted in the "Today's Choices" preview section for their respective days, with part one "Pick of the Day" for Christmas Day, described by the magazine's TV editor Alison Graham as a "thoughtful story." In the radio listings section, David Tennant's turns as interviewee (on Sunday 27th December's "Desert Island Discs") and interviewer (of Russell T Davies, on Tuesday 29th December's "Who on Who?") are also picked out as highlights of their respective days.

Both TV & Satellite Week and Total TV Guide also speak to Tennant about how he feels to be giving up the role of the Doctor. "Being a celebrity doesn't sit easily with me," he tells the former. "It's part of the job, but if that died down it would be OK." In Total TV Guide, he says of his successor Matt Smith that "I think he'll be good for the role because he has an unusual look. He could be either 18 or 40. I hope that doesn't offend him!" Both magazines make "The End of Time" their Christmas Day highlight, with TV & Satellite Week saying that "there's no doubt this year's two-part story will top all previous offerings," while Total TV Guide calls it "a fitting farewell for David Tennant's incarnation of the Time Lord." Both magazines also speak to Catherine Tate about her own Christmas special; she tells TV & Satellite Week of her appearance in "The End of Time" that: "It was sad, but I was delighted to be in the episodes. David is a brilliant actor and has brought everything he could to the role."

You can keep track of all major Doctor Who-related programmes on British TV and radio this Christmas with our broadcast summary.

Doctor Who Magazine 416 is the biggest-ever edition and, less than a month before he leaves the role, is a David Tennant special. Tennant gives an in-depth interview about his last days as the Tenth Doctor, the forthcoming Christmas Special, The End of Time, and the reasons why he’s decided to leave his dream job.

"When the Doctor decides he’s the ‘Time Lord Victorious’, we’re making him quite unsympathetic", considers David. "Well, it’s making him more Time Lord, actually, when you consider how they turned out. When we see the Doctor behaving arrogantly, selfishly or uncontrollably, it’s then that he appears more fallible, and therefore more human?
The Time Lords were pretty fallible too. It’s hubris. It’s Greek. It needed that scale to tell the final story. It’s a tale of the gods, really but gods who are fallible and, I suppose, human."


Also in the issue:

• AS TIME GOES BY With just two weeks to go until this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Specials, there is a taste of what’s in store, with dozens of new photos from The End of Time.
• MASTERPIECE
  He’s the Doctor’s most persistent Time Lord nemesis – the Master is back. John Simm explains why he couldn’t miss out on the Tenth Doctor’s final party.
• GRANDAD, GRANDAD, LOVELY!
  The Doctor’s faithful friend Wilfred Mott enters the TARDIS – and for Bernard Cribbins it’s his first trip into time and space for 43 years! Cribbins looks back over his long career.
• A SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING
  The Fact of Fiction turns back the clock to Christmas 2005, and the moment when we first met the Tenth Doctor – in The Christmas Invasion.
• IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
  Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has written his very last Production Notes, what will be his all-important final word?
• SIMPLY RED!
  Majenta Pryce’s dark secrets are about to be revealed as the Tenth Doctor begins his final, epic, comic strip adventure – THE CRIMSON HAND, by Dan McDaid with art from Martin Geraghty.
• THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND
  A look back at the most memorable Doctor Who moments of 2009 in the Review of the Year.
• PARTY LIKE IT’S 1999
  THhe Time Team relive the end of the twentieth century as they turn their attention to the Eighth Doctor’s only on-screen adventure, the 1996 TV Movie.
• EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE
  The Watcher concludes his definitive guide to the Time Lord’s many incarnations by taking a close look at The Tenth Doctor.
• MONEY – THAT’S WHAT I WANT
  Catches up with the Sil, aka Nabil Shaban and find out what he thinks about Jonathan Ross, YouTube, weapons of mass destruction – and returning as Sil on audio.

Plus The Watcher is back with the Christmas Quiz, there is a giant-sized, double-sided poster, and a chance to win the latest DVDs, CDs, books and audios – including the Doctor Who Series 1-4 box set.

The 'fast-tracked' The Waters of Mars has debuted in Australia to modest ratings. The special averaged 731,000 in the five major capital cities. Though 'Mars' was still the ABC's top rating drama of the day and its second highest rating show after the 7pm news. The trailer for The End of Time also immediately followed the special, although the ABC is yet to confirm when it will broadcast the two-part special in the new year.

Meanwhile, 'Mars' and the casting of Australian actor Peter O'Brien as 'Bowie Base One' second-in-command, Ed Gold, has also attracted some local media attention. Debbie Schipp of The Sunday Telegraph has spoken to O'Brien about his appearance in the iconic show, who jokes that 'all the interiors were done in Wales, and then we had to go to Mars for the exteriors'. The Herald-Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun-Herald also feature interviews with the Aussie actor. Kerrie Murphy of The Weekend Australian writes of 'Mars' that it is 'an absolute ripper, mixing rapid-fire humour with a complex and emotional story.' Scott Ellis of The Sunday Age also comments that 'fans will not be disappointed, especially by his new companion, 59 year-old Captain Adelaide Brooke.'

Here is a summary of some of the main Doctor Who-related programming across British television and radio over the forthcoming festive period. For a more comprehensive summary of all Doctor Who repeat broadcasts also taking place over the coming weeks, please see our sister site This Week in Doctor Who.

Updates since 30th December have a red border.

UK Broadcast Schedule

Monday 7th December	10.35-11.20pm		The Graham Norton Show	Appearance by Catherine Tate
Tuesday 8th December	1.30-2.30am		Loose Women	Bernard Cribbins (repeat from 12:30pm Monday)
Thursday 10th December	11.00-11.30pm		Chain Reaction	David Tennant interviews Richard Wilson (Repeat)
Friday 11th December	8.50-9.00am		BBC Breakfast	June Whitfield interview
Friday 11th December	5.30-6.00pm		Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf	Part One (Repeat)
Friday 11th December	7.00-8.00pm		The One Show	Ricky Tomlinson's Christmas TV Picks (End of Time clip)
Saturday 12th December	10.30-11.00am		Shelved	Documentary on abandoned programmes, including Shada
Saturday 12th December	5.00-6.00pm		An Hour With Jon Pertwee	(Repeat) Repeated at 11pm and 4am
Saturday 12th December	5.15-6.00pm		Doctor Who - Dreamland	(Repeat)
Monday 14th December	3.00-4.00pm		Alan Titchmarsh Show	Interview with Bernard Cribbins
Tuesday 15th December	4.35-5.00pm		Blue Peter	Joel Defries tracks down David Tennant
Tuesday 15th December	7.00-7.30pm		The One Show	Catherine Tate guests
Tuesday 15th December	9.15-10.00pm		Night Waves	Interview with Steven Moffat
Wednesday 16th December	10.00-10.30pm		Never Mind The Buzzcocks	David Tennant hosts, Bernard Cribbins and Catherine Tate guest
Thursday 17th December	~8.45am		BBC Breakfast	Christmas TV Shows Review
Thursday 17th December	6.00-7.00pm		Sisters of the Flame	Paul McGann Big Finish Audio Repeated 12.00am
Thursday 17th December	~6.25pm		BBC 6'O Clock News	The End of Time preview
Thursday 17th December	7.15-7.45pm		Front Row	Catherine Tate interview
Friday 18th December	5.30-6.00pm		Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf	Part Two (Repeat)
Friday 18th December	6.00-7.00pm		The Vengeance of Morbius	Paul McGann Big Finish Audio Repeated 12.00am
Saturday 19th December	10.00-10.45am		Doctor Who - The Infinite Quest	(Repeat)
Saturday 19th December	10.00-11.30am		Saturday Kitchen	Catherine Tate guests.
Saturday 19th December	Various/Online		E24	Christmas TV Highlights, including Doctor Who
Sunday 20th December	10.00-11.30am		Something for the Weekend	End of Time clips
Monday 21st December	~12:15pm		This Morning	Catherine Tate interview
Monday 21st December	~3:15pm		Colin Murray	Christmas Television discussion
Monday 21st December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading Miki
Monday 21st December	10.35-11.20pm		The Graham Norton Show	Best Of
Tuesday 22nd December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading How High is the Sky?
Tuesday 22nd December	7.00-8.00pm		Doctor Who – The Next Doctor	(Repeat)
Tuesday 22nd December	7.15-7.45pm		Front Row	Article on David Tennant's Hamlet
Tuesday 22nd December	9.00-10.00pm		Ruth Jones's Christmas Cracker	Russell T Davies guests
Tuesday 22nd December	9.30-10.00pm		Never Mind The Buzzcocks	(Repeat)
Wednesday 23rd December	10:30am-12:30pm		This Morning	June Whitfield interview
Wednesday 23rd December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading Small Mouse Big City
Wednesday 23rd December	7.00-7.30pm		The One Show	Bernard Cribbins guests
Wednesday 23rd December	7.00-8.00pm		Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead	(Repeat)
Thursday 24th December	9.30-10.15am		Doctor Who - Dreamland	(Repeat) Red Button Commentary
Thursday 24th December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading The Christmas Bear
Thursday 24th December	7.00-8.00pm		Doctor Who – The Waters of Mars	(Repeat)
Thursday 24th December	10.00-10.30pm		QI	David Tennant panellist
Friday 25th December	~7.35am, ~8.35am		Breakfast	John Simm, David Tennant/Catherine Tate interviews
Friday 25th December	11.15-12.10pm		The Sarah Jane Adventures	The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (Repeat)
Friday 25th December	6.00-7.00pm		The End of Time - Part One	Also on BBC HD
Friday 25th December	7.00-8.00pm		Doctor Who Confidential	Also on BBC HD at 8:00pm
Saturday 26th December	3.00am-4.00am		The Commentaries	The End of Time: The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss episode 1 of The End of Time.
Saturday 26th December	10.00am-1.00pm		David Tennant and Catherine Tate	sitting in for Jonathan Ross
Saturday 26th December	5.05-8.10pm		Hamlet	David Tennant stars
Saturday 26th December	8.00-9.00pm		Archive on 4 - Doctor Who: The Lost Episodes	Documentary on the missing episodes of Doctor Who
Sunday 27th December	11.15am-12.00pm		Desert Island Discs	David Tennant
Sunday 27th December	1.30-2.00pm		On the Outside it Looked Like an Old-Fashioned Police Box	Target novelisations documentary by Mark Gatiss (repeat)
Sunday 27th December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading
Sunday 27th December	4.45-7.45pm		Hamlet	David Tennant stars
Sunday 27th December	7.00-8.00pm		The End of Time - Part One	(Repeat) Red Button Commentary
Sunday 27th December	9.00pm-10.35pm		The Greatest TV Shows of the Noughties	(not confirmed, but almost certainly will feature Doctor Who!)
Monday 28th December	3.00-3.45pm		Archive on 4 - Doctor Who: The Lost Episodes	(shortened repeat)
Monday 28th December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading
Tuesday 29th December	5.00-6.00pm		Who On Who?	David Tennant interviews Russell T Davies
Tuesday 29th December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading
Tuesday 29th December	10.20-11.20pm		Alan Carr: Chatty Man	David Tennant and Catherine Tate guest
Tuesday 29th December	10.55-11.40pm		QI	David Tennant panellist (Extended Repeat)
Wednesday 30th December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading Emily Brown and the Elephant
Thursday 31st December	~7:40am		GMTV	David Tennant interview (originally scheduled for 24th)
Thursday 31st December	~8:40am		BBC Breakfast	David Tennant guests
Thursday 31st December	~9:00am		Breakfast	David Tennant interview
Thursday 31st December	6.50-7.00pm		Bedtime Stories	David Tennant reading
Thursday 31st December	2.00-3.00pm		Doctor Who at the Proms	(Repeat)
Thursday 31st December	10.45pm-12.45am		Alan Carr: Chatty Man	David Tennant and Catherine Tate guest (Repeat)
Friday 1st January	12.55-1.55pm		The End of Time - Part One	(Repeat)
Friday 1st January	2.35-3.35pm		Planet of the Dead	(Repeat)
Friday 1st January	3.35-4.35pm		Doctor Who Confidential: Desert Storm	(Repeat)
Friday 1st January	4.35-5.40pm		The Waters of Mars	(Repeat)
Friday 1st January	5.40-6.40pm		The End of Time - Part One	(Repeat)
Friday 1st January	6.40-7.55pm		The End of Time - Part Two	Also on BBC HD
Friday 1st January	7.55-8.55pm		Doctor Who Confidential – Allonsy	Also on BBC HD
Friday 1st January	8.55-9.30pm		Doctor Who Greatest Moments - The Doctor	(Repeat)
Saturday 2nd January	4.05-5.05am		Doctor Who Confidential – Allonsy	(Repeat)
Sunday 3rd January	2.30am-4.00am		The Commentaries	The End of Time: The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss episode 2 of The End of Time.
Sunday 3rd January	3.40-4:55pm		The End of Time - Part Two	(Repeat)
Sunday 3rd January	7.00-8.15pm		The End of Time - Part Two	(Repeat) Red Button Commentary

Although BBC Television is only available in the UK, BBC Radio can be heard around the world via the BBC Website.

For a full International Doctor Who Schedule see

The BBC's children's website, CBBC, has today published a gallery of images from the forthcoming two-part Christmas special, The End of Time. The gallery features images of various characters who appear in the two specials, and opens with the warning that: "We've got some clues to how it may all end, but be careful, because there are some big SPOILERS!!!!"