The Time of the Doctor had a final official rating of 11.14 million viewers, according to figures published by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board.

The consolidated figure includes those who recorded the programme and watched it within seven days, and is a substantial increase on the initial overnight figure. The episode is confirmed as the second-highest rated programme on British television for Christmas Day, and the third-highest rated programme for the whole week. Only three programmes in the week rated more than 10 million.

Top of the list for the week was the revived sitcom Still Open All Hours, which had 12.23 million watching, while Mrs Brown's Boys topped the charts for Christmas Day itself, with 11.52 million viewers. ITV's highest-rated programme was Coronation Street, scheduled directly against Doctor Who, where it had 9.83 million watching.

Doctor Who was accessed on the BBC iPlayer around 1.9 million times in the week after transmission.

Congratulations to Alan Chapman from Scotland who predicted the ratings for The Time of the Doctor exactly. He wins three signed script fronts from recent Big Finish releases.

To finish off their 2012/13 festive offers, Big Finish are offering adventures 51 to 75 of their regular Doctor Who range at a special price until the 13th January for both CD and download.


For full details and to order any of the adventures, visit the Big Finish website.

Doctor Who Adventures has launched a competition to give away a life-size Dalek worth more than £3,000.

To enter, readers must collect three tokens, with the first one available in the current issue - on sale until Tuesday 14th January.

The second token will be in the next edition of the fortnightly magazine - issue 337 - which goes on sale on 15th January, and token three will be in issue 338, on sale on 29th January. All three tokens need to be sent in with a completed form. Full terms and conditions can be found in the magazine.

Editor Moray Laing said: The latest edition - issue 336 - also comes with a pack of Alien Attax cards, a Make Your Own Model kit, and a surprise gift.

The latest in our ongoing features on special moments within Doctor Who sees the show undergo a major transformation . . .

As five million viewers watched the second Doctor spiral away towards his exile, little did they realise that it would be over six months before they would be able to enjoy the Doctor's travels once more. Changes in BBC broadcasting were afoot; the show had already been using the new 625 line standards since The Enemy of The World, and now the BBC was to commence a full colour service from November 1969. As Doctor Who would be made in this way, the series itself would be effectively delayed to both enable the transition and also provide something familiar to herald in the new year - though this led to its biggest break off air since the show's beginning in 1963.

Behind the scenes, co-producers Derrick Sherwin and Peter Bryant had implemented several changes to the format of the show, with their UNIT organisation introduced in The Invasion coming to the fore and how the Doctor would become the Brigadier's leading expert on "the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth, or even beyond." However, diminishing ratings, the general audience reaction to the sixth season, and the departure of lead actor Patrick Troughton had put the show at risk, though without a suitable replacement programme the seventh season was commissioned with a new Doctor in the form of Jon Pertwee.

Fears for the show's continuation proved unfounded, however, as when the new series started 44 years ago today, some 8.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the new Doctor arrive on Earth and assist UNIT in thwarting the Spearhead From Space, and the overall audience appreciation of his adventures with Autons, earth reptiles, alien paranoia and an alternative Britain over the next 25 weeks were strong enough to ensure the Doctor's adventures would be safe for another 15 years . . .

And so our Moment in Time today is the arrival of the new, colourful series of Doctor Who!

Gareth Roberts has revealed that he will be returning to the Doctor Who team this year. Issue 139 of Quench, a Cardiff student lifestyle magazine, features an interview with Roberts and reports that he is "currently working on the new Peter Capaldi episodes for Doctor Who Series 8". The whole interview can be found here.

Roberts has written five episodes for Doctor Who in the past: The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Planet of the Dead, The Lodger and Closing Time, as well as writing a number of episodes for spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. Outside the Whoniverse, his other writing credits include Wizards vs Aliens and Emmerdale.

---

Gareth Roberts is currently the fourth writer confirmed for Peter Capaldi's debut season, joining Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross.

The ninth day in Big Finish's special offers for Christmas is for The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs, which is available to purchase for download at a special price for the next couple of days only.


The offers continue tomorrow with a puzzling case for the first Doctor ...

The next in our ongoing features on special moments within Doctor Who sees the commencement of Season Eight, and the arrival of one of the Doctor's greatest nemeses ...

Up until 1971, viewers had only been introduced to a mere few of the Doctor's own race. Surprisingly this first occurred quite early in the show's history, when the Doctor with his companions Steven and Vicki became involved in the nefarious plans of a fellow time traveller from the Doctor's home planet, but it wasn't until 1969 when the machinations of another of his contemporaries ultimately resulted in the Doctor having to contact his own people, leading to his own 'capture', 'trial', and subsequent exile to Earth by the Time Lords.

With a new Doctor effectively earthbound, protagonists had to come to him rather than vice versa, and the production team envisaged a regular adversary, one to match his wisdom and skills, an intellectual challenger in a similar vein to that between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. It made sense to make such a person one of his own race, so Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks settled on an old acquaintance from the Doctor's youth, another Time Lord renegade who would be both very familiar with and considered himself to be superior to the Doctor.

There was only one person in mind to portray such a character, and today's Moment in Time focuses on the debut of the Doctor's new "old" adversary in Terror of The Autons, as played so memorably by Roger Delgado ...

BBC Worldwide has announced Doctor Who: The Best of The Doctor is to get a 3 Disc Region 4 Release Date Early January. The DVD consists of all the BBC America Documentaries "The Best of ...." and according to some sources will also include an episode to accompany each documentary, though this has not been confirmed. The specials in the series, and are expected to be included on the set, are:

• Doctor Who: The Best of the Doctor
• Doctor Who: The Best of the Monsters
• Doctor Who: The Best of the Companions
• Doctor Who: The Best of the Christmas Specials
• Doctor Who: The Science of Doctor Who
• Doctor Who: The Women of Doctor Who
• Doctor Who: The Timey Wimey of Doctor Who
• Doctor Who: The Destinations of Doctor Who
• Doctor Who: Doctor Who in America

Each of the Specials duration time is around 45 minutes. The official details are below:
The DVD can be pre-orded online from JB-HI-FI

Tom Baker has expressed his heartfelt thanks to fans around the world for their support, saying he felt 'swamped in love' following his appearance in the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who.

The veteran actor, who turns 80 later this month, posted a New Year’s message on his website, reflecting on the past year and his plans for the future. He said wonderful messages came in from around the world following his cameo in the The Day of the Doctor, which he revealed was filmed in Cardiff last spring. Through the wintry darkness of April, I travelled to Cardiff where my scene was to be shot. The BBC decided that I shouldn’t stay in a hotel in Cardiff in case people guessed what I was there for. Matt and I did not discuss the scene or talk about what it might mean; God forbid! No, we started just after eight am and about four hours later I was released.

Baker also spoke of his experience at the Excel Centre in London, where he attended the 50th Anniversary Celebration along with thousands of fans."It was tumult: the fans cheered as if I had come back from the dead and the cheering did the trick... I travelled back in time: it was wonderful. I enjoyed it all."

In the message Tom Baker tells how he spent Christmas without power, following storms which hit the South East of England just before the holiday, Sue & I had to manage the best we could in the darkness, trying to be cheerful and entertaining ourselves. He looks forward to completing more recordings for Big Finish Productions in the New Year. I have never been happier at work than I am with my colleagues at Big Finish. The actors are well cast and are wonderful company.

Tom Baker thanked fans for their emails and messages on his facebook page. I am constantly touched and amazed by the personal stories people have told in my guestbook about how watching Doctor Who helped them through difficult times and inspired them to make something of their lives. Thank you for sharing these wonderful stories with me and other fans. I certainly find it very interesting.

Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) are both heading down under for a special tour around the country next March. The Hub Productions' Whoniverse: The Doctor is in event will see them live on stage talking about the phenomenon of Doctor Who and their lives as the Doctor and his companion. There will also be merchandise as well as rare collectibles available to purchase from dealers. Limited autographs and professional photographs will be available with the guests. The tour dates are as follows:

>>> SYDNEY MARCH 1st 2014
>>> PERTH MARCH 2nd 2014
>>> ADELAIDE MARCH 8th 2014
>>> MELBOURNE MARCH 9th 2014


Additional guests as well as venues and ticket info will be announced mid-January from the Hub's website.

---

Other Australian appearances include Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), who will be touring with Oz Comic-Con in Adelaide and Perth throughout March and April 2014. Tickets can be purchased from the Official Oz Comic-Con site.

Also travelling to Australia and New Zealand is Fifth Doctor Peter Davison to host the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular.