Various sources in the UK media, including The Sun and Digital Spy, are reporting that 95 year-old Millvina Dean, the last surviving passenger of the sole voyage of the ill-fated passenger liner the Titanic in 1912, has criticised the BBC for setting the festive episode of Doctor Who aboard a replica space ship of the same name.

Dean - whose father drowned in the disaster - is quoted in The Sun as saying: "It is disrespectful to the dead and bereaved to make entertainment of such a tragedy." However, a BBC spokeswoman told the Daily Record newspaper that: "No offence was intended. Voyage of the Damned is set on a spaceship called The Titanic and not a boat."

Paul Cornell's new Doctor Who Christmas story, The Hopes and Fears of All the Years, is now available on the Daily Telegraph's website. Only one of the three illustrations by Mike Collins accompanies the web version; to see the other two, you'll have to buy the newspaper.

As previously reported, Cornell is running a competition to win the original art of Collins' illustrations on Facebook.

Broadcast magazine, the weekly magazine of the UK's television and radio industry, has released its "Hot 100 of 2007" list, and several Doctor Who people are on the list.

In the Talent category, Billie Piper comes in at #6 (the highest-ranking woman on the list). The magazine mentions her forthcoming return to Doctor Who, as well as her roles in "The Diary of a Call Girl", "Mansfield Park" and "The Shadow of the North".

In the Writers" category, Steven Moffat gets a nod at #11. Broadcast praises his "ingeniously playful" series "Jekyll" and his Doctor Who scripts, and notes his upcoming work on the Stephen Spielberg/Peter Jackson film adaptation of "Tintin". Moffat is also quoted about his first series, "Press Gang": "I'd love to do a return visit to the characters," he says. "They'll all be sad and fat, decaying in middle age."

Russell T. Davies has previously appeared in the Writers section of the Hot 100, but this year Broadcast recognizes his contributions as a producer, listing him at #1 in that category. The magazine notes Davies' hands-on involvement in every stage of Doctor Who and its spin-offs, and credits him with turning Doctor Who into one of the BBC's biggest brands. Jane Tranter says that Davies is "brilliant, totally rooted, extremely wise, irreverent and great fun to be with. And he's incredibly kind. His non-judgmental understanding of the nature of the human condition is written large in every piece of work he's ever done." (Tranter, who as Head of Drama at the BBC in 2003 was responsible for commissioning the return of Doctor Who to BBC television, is also in Broadcast's Hot 100. Now the BBC's Head of Fiction, she's the #1 entry in the Commissioners category.)

Finally, leading the field in Craft and Post-Production is Will Cohen of The Mill. The Mill contributed 2,897 effects shots to Doctor Who in 2007, and Cohen ensured that each of them was "better than good". Cohen says, "You've got to compete with computer games, the internet and DVDs. Viewers don't care whether effects are made for the cinema or TV - the work either stands up and holds its own or it doesn't."

Broadcast also listed Doctor Who as one of the top-rated dramas of 2007, excluding soaps. Based on overnight figures, the 31 March broadcast of "Smith and Jones", with 8.2 million viewers and a 39.5% share of the audience, was the eighth most viewed television drama of 2007, and the third highest ranking for a BBC program (surpassed by "Waking the Dead" and "New Tricks").

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Today's news round-up begins and ends with CBBC's Newsround. Newsround's Lizo Mzimba was the first journalist to review "Voyage of the Damned". Mzimba says that David Tennant and Kylie Minogue "have great chemistry" and that the story as a whole, though "not a perfect episode", "beautifully juggles different elements ranging from tragedy to comedy."

Gareth McLean of The Guardian says that this year's offering is "the best of the three Christmas specials", but sniffs that Kylie is "blank and insipid". However, Nick Sketchfield of SFX calls Kylie's performance "unshowy but winning", and says that "Voyage of the Damned" is "the sixpence in the pudding, a perfect Christmas Day adventure that blends the disaster movie trappings of The Poseidon Adventure with the kind of madcap, quasi-2000 AD flavourings of those old Doctor Who Weekly comic strips."

There's one more video of David Tennant speaking at Tuesday night's premiere, this one from The Press and Journal. Speaking to Swansea's Evening Post, Russell T. Davies was full of praise for Tennant, saying, "He's literally Britain's finest actor. I honest to God think that, so when you're writing for him you want him to do anything and go anywhere, and he's capable of anything."

In a survey of young men sponsored by Zoo magazine, Tennant came third in a list of the 100 Coolest Men in Britain. He was behind musician Noel Gallagher and football (soccer) player Steven Gerrard, but ahead of James Bond actor Daniel Craig. John Simm came 51st. Simon Pegg and Peter Kaywere first and fourth respectively in Zoo's top five of funny blokes, while Ricky Gervais, who plays a Doctor Who extra/slug monster in the ExtrasChristmas special, was second in that particular poll. Pegg, Gervais and Kay came seventh, eight and 17th respectively in the Zoo poll to find the coolest bloke of 2007.

Kylie Minogue's involvement gets "Voyage of the Damned" column-inches from Australia's Nine News (which quotes one "Robert T. Davies") and The Sunalso has a story claiming that Madonna turned down an invitation to appear in Doctor Who as "The Last Cassandra". The item appears, appropriately enough, in the newspaper's "Bizarre" section, accompanied by a mock-up of Madonna as Cassandra. (Presumably the photo editors were bored with sticking celebrities' heads onto Davros' body.)

The Times reports that some Christian groups are upset at the use of religious iconography in "Voyage of the Damned". Only one such group is named: the evangelical organization Christian Voice, which previously objected to the BBC's broadcast of "Jerry Springer: The Opera". However, a Church of England spokesman dismissed the concern, saying, "Science fiction at its best helps to illuminate eternal themes, and that’s something the Church can happily work with."

One Doctor Who star who will be found in a church soon is Billie Piper. Piper, who has recently been in Wales filming for the return of Rose Tyler to Doctor Who, will marry actor Laurence Fox on New Year's Eve. The Midhurst and Petworth Observer reports that the two will wed at the parish church in the West Sussex village of Easebourne, where Piper owns a home. The Daily Mail notes that the reception will be held at a pub owned by Piper's ex-husband, Chris Evans.

And finally, we circle back to Newsround. The parents of George Baker, 10, have decorated his bedroom as the TARDIS console room -- complete with a rather impressive console. Fans of all ages can surely envy young Mr. Baker.

Thanks to "PMount" of the Doctor Who Forum and Paul McDermott.

This year's Doctor Who Christmas special, "Voyage of the Damned", had a star-studded premiere at London's Science Museum Tuesday night. David Tennant was in attendance, and as previously reported laughed off rumors that he was quitting the series. Kylie Minogue was reportedly in Japan, but Geoffrey Palmer, Clive Swift, Clive Rowe and Bernard Cribbins, all of whom appear in "Voyage", were present at the gala event.

Other Doctor Who actors attending the premiere included John Simm, Camille Coduri, Noel Clarke and Elisabeth Sladen, as well as past guest stars such as Michelle Collins and Tony Head. Celebrity guests included musician Nick Cave, broadcasterJo Whiley, comedy writer Richard Curtis, impressionist Jon Culshaw, journalist Andrew Marr, Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe and Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain. Photos of the attendees can be seen at Getty Images,CBBC Newsround and Sky Showbiz.

The event was covered by a wide range of media. BBC News,CBBC Newsround, ITN News, The Blackpool Gazette andThe Bolton News all have video of the event. The premiere is also covered by (in no particular order) The Western News, The Daily Record, inthenews.co.uk, UPI, The Press Association, Sky Showbiz (twice), contactmusic.com,Total Sci Fi, Off the Telly, RTÉ, icWales and The Guardian. Many of these reports focus on Tennant's denial of the departure rumors; others highlight a kiss between the Doctor and Kylie Minogue's character, Astrid.

Finally, CBBC Newsround has a largely spoiler-free review of the Christmas special itself.

UPDATE: The Press Association UK has published more video from the launch and previously unseen clips from "Voyage of the Damned"; it can be seen onClipSyndicate.

Thanks to "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

The official Doctor Who site has confirmed that "The Hopes and Fears of All the Years", a new Doctor Who short story by Paul Cornell, will be published in the Daily Telegraph on December 22. Cornell, author of several Doctor Who novels and audios, and most recently the television episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", had previously announced the story on his blog. The short story will be illustrated by Doctor Who Magazineartist Mike Collins. Cornell is running a competition to win one of Collins' illustrations on Facebook.

Last Christmas, The Times ran a Doctor Who story by Cornell; it can be found in their archives.

And the Doctor Who-related news keeps coming. CBBC Newsround has an interview with Russell T. Davies, in which the writer and producer talks about "Voyage of the Damned", "The Sarah Jane Adventures", the pre-watershed version of "Torchwood" and Series 4 of "Doctor Who". The Newsround site also has a gallery of photos from "Voyage of the Damned". Davies is also quoted in the Swansea Evening Post as calling the Christmas special "a great big disaster movie", speaking favorably of Kylie Minogue's guest-starring turn and saying that he'd love to have Judi Dench in Doctor Who.

Catherine Tate's comments about David Tennant's Doctor Who plans continue to be discussed; the story has been picked up by the Western Mail(Wales), RTÉ (Ireland) and the international news service UPI.

Apparently contradicting an earlier story in the Western Mail, the Daily Telegraph reports that the Character Group, parent company of Character Options, who make Doctor Who toys, has had slow sales this holiday season. Billie Piper's risqué ITV series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" will air in the US on the Showtime cable network, reports Varietyand Entertainment Weekly.

And finally, an item about which readers can use their own judgment: The Sun claims that Jennifer Saunders of "Absolutely Fabulous" is in talks to play the Doctor for one episode after David Tennant leaves the part. Saunders' AbFab co-star Joanna Lumley played the Doctor briefly in the 1999 Comic Relief sketch "The Curse of Fatal Death".

The avalanche of Doctor Who coverage in the British media continues. A number of sources have published stories aboutCatherine Tate's comments about David Tennant's future with Doctor Who. These include CBBC Newsround, The Independent, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The People andDigital Spy.

Freema Agyeman is profiled as one of The Observer's "Faces of 2007".

The Western Mail reports high sales of Doctor Who merchandise and toys in the run-up to Christmas, and attributes it to "the Kylie factor". The Western Mail also reports on the upcoming premiere showing of "Voyage of the Damned" at the Science Museum in London on Tuesday. Wales on Sunday says that Minogue was nervous when she began work on the Christmas special, and the Daily Star reports on the "Voyage of the Damned" wrap party, in an item blatantly culled from Caitlin Moran's comprehensive piece in The Times.

In addition to all the coverage of "Voyage of the Damned", several other Doctor Who-related stories have recently appeared in the UK's national and local press.

Russell T Davies defends the state of British television to The New Statesman. The Guardian's TV critic Charlie Brooker has named the episode "Blink" as the Best Populist Drama of the Year, declaring that it was "simultaneously the best piece of sci-fi AND horror the BBC has produced in a decade."

Doctor Who stars are appearing in seasonal pantomimes across the UK. John Barrowman, appearing in "Aladdin" at the Birmingham Hippodrome, took time to show his Dalek to The Coventry Telegraph. Colin Baker is playing the villainous King Rat opposite Terry Molloy (Davros) as Alderman Fitzwarren in "Dick Whittington" at the Theatre Royal; it's covered by the Norwich Evening News and by Baker himself in his regular column for the Bucks Free Press. While in Norfolk, Baker turned on Cromer's Christmas lights, and made a passing comment comparing Cromer's light display to Blackpool's; The Blackpool Gazette gets a bit sniffy about his remark.