Day of the Doctor - A Hit Down Under

Monday, 25 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Australian Doctor Who fans set their alarms and tuned in to ABC1 as Doctor Who: The Day Of The Doctor was simulcast to 94 countries around the globe over the weekend.

Doctor Who pulled in a massive 1.95 million viewers nationally, 1.36 million at 7.30pm on ABC1 and a further 0.59 million for the live broadcast on ABC1, which went out at 6.50am in Sydney and 3.50am in Perth.

The live screening achieved a 5 city metro overnight average audience of 424,000 viewers and a total TV share of 37.1%, while the repeat broadcast achieved a 5 city metro average audience of 922,000 viewers and a total TV share of 16.1%. The repeat was second in its timeslot to 60 Minutes on Channel 9. Across both the live and repeat broadcasts, the programme reached 1.5 million viewers, or 9.3% of the 5 city metro population.

In addition, there were 51,000 plays via iview.

An Adventure in Space and Time, which followed the episode, had 0.94 million watching, a 5 city metro average audience of 633,000 and a total TV share of 13.5%.

Brendan Dahill, Controller ABC1, paid tribute to the series and its makers.
It's clear that The Doctor is adored by millions of people around the globe and we're thrilled that ABC TV was able to be part of this phenomenal global broadcast, bringing the Time Lord's 50th anniversary adventure to fans in Australia.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Ratings - Australia

Anniversary episode awarded Guinness World Record

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
Last night's simultaneous broadcast of The Day of the Doctor to 94 countries has been officially named the world's largest-ever simulcast of a TV drama.

A Guinness World Records certificate was presented to showrunner and episode writer Steven Moffat today at the Doctor Who Celebration at the ExCeL Centre in London by Craig Glenday, the editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, who said:
Who else but the time-twisting Doctor could appear in 94 countries at once?! This outstanding achievement is testament to the fact that the longest-running sci-fi TV show in history is not just a well-loved UK institution but a truly global success adored by millions of people.
Accepting the award, Moffat commented:
For years the Doctor has been stopping everyone else from conquering the world. Now, just to show off, he's gone and done it himself!
Tim Davie, BBC Worldwide's chief executive officer, said:
We knew we were attempting something unprecedented in broadcast history, not only because Doctor Who is a drama, unlike a live feed event such as a World Cup football match or a royal wedding, but because we had to deliver the episode in advance to the four corners of the world so that it could be dubbed and subtitled into 15 different languages.

If there was any doubt that Doctor Who is one of the world's biggest TV shows, this award should put that argument to rest - and how fitting for it to receive such an accolade in its 50th year.
The BBC said that more than 1,500 cinemas around the world showed the episode, with fans in Sweden and Norway, where there was no client broadcaster, petitioning their cinemas successfully to show the episode, while in Argentina they persuaded a major cinema chain to "simulscreen" the episode. Over in the USA, there was a sell-out of 10,000 cinema tickets in 28 minutes with no advertising or marketing, while Germany saw one of its biggest cinema chains - Cinemaxx - reporting that the episode was the fastest non-movie pre-sale in its history.

Guinness World Records has also compiled a list of the programme's other achievements.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Awards/Nominations - WHO50

John Hurt Doctor added to line-up picture

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
A BBC image of the 11 Doctors that was released last month has been updated, adding the John Hurt version of the Doctor between the Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston incarnations.


Other tweaks have included replacing the profile picture of McGann's Doctor. The original image can be seen below.


UPDATE - MONDAY 25th NOVEMBER: A new version of the original image comprising 11 Doctors has also been created to include the replacement profile of Paul McGann's Doctor.





FILTER: - WHO50 - BBC

Deleted scene from The Day of the Doctor

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
A deleted scene from The Day of the Doctor has been made available to view online by the BBC.

The short sequence shows the three Doctors - as portrayed by Matt Smith, David Tennant, and John Hurt - bickering and with their feet shackled, while being led under guard into the Tower of London.





FILTER: - Online - WHO50 - BBC

First teaser trailer for 2013 Christmas special

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
The first teaser trailer for this year's Doctor Who Christmas special can now be viewed online.

The trailer aired on BBC One yesterday immediately following The Day of the Doctor and includes Daleks, a Cyberman, a Silent, Weeping Angels, and a tolling bell, with captions stating: "This Christmas Silence Will Fall".


The episode, whose title is yet to be revealed, is expected to be broadcast on Christmas Day, and will see the Eleventh Doctor regenerate into the Twelfth.




FILTER: - Online - Series Specials - BBC

The Day of the Doctor - overnight viewing figures

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus
The Day of the Doctor was watched by 10.2 million viewers in the UK according to unofficial overnight figures.

The 50th Anniversary story achieved an audience share of 37.4% of the total television audience, beating ITV's The X Factor, which had 7.7 million watching.

Doctor Who was the second most-watched show of the day, with Strictly Come Dancing just edging into first place with 10.6 million viewers. ITV's other big hitter, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, came in at number 4 with 9.2 million watching. 5th for the day was a special Doctor Who-themed edition of Pointless Celebrities which had 5.0 million viewers.

Doctor Who is currently the third most-watched programme for the week.

The figures include those who watched the show live on BBC One, or who recorded it and watched it before 2am. They do not include those watching on iPlayer or at any of the multiple cinema showings.

Final official figures will be released next week.




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Day of the Doctor

The Day of the Doctor - press reviews

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus
The papers have been reviewing The Day of the Doctor, with most of them being impressed by the 50th anniversary episode.

The Mirror loved the show, saying how Steven Moffat "has put something together that not only gives hardcore fans a beautiful reinvention of their favourite show, but also gives casual viewers a stonking story." The paper praises the acting as "superb," with Matt Smith holding his own against veteran John Hurt. The Telegraph compares the acting styles of David Tennant and Matt Smith, calling the former "edgy and mercurial," and the latter "gentler, with a boyish eccentricity." They praised John Hurt as a "fantastic counterpoint to the physicality of Tennant and Smith," adding "with one withering look, he was able to silence his younger selves"

The Guardian found the episode "confusing" but praised the "beautiful acting." The Mail called the episode "typically chaotic, full of big, hollow bluster and knowing tiny detail." The paper disliked the effects, accusing the BBC of pandering to the American audience, while disliking the Zygons as not scary enough.

Online Mashable talked of "a towering achievement of an episode, one designed to please fans and newcomers alike which shows why the Doctor is finding his way into ever more homes and hearts." TVfanatic praised Steven Moffat for doing justice to a long-running favorite by "paying homage to the past and opening up a new future of what will hopefully be a show generations in the future will continue to love."

According to social analytics company, SecondSync Doctor Who generated almost half a million tweets during its simultaneous broadcast to over 90 countries. Most tweeting about the episode were female, with the peak number of tweets occurring at the beginning of the episode at 12,939 tweets per minute.




FILTER: - Day of the Doctor - Press

Tom Baker - Happiest Time of My Life

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus
Tom Baker has told the BBC that playing the Doctor was the happiest time of his whole life.

The veteran actor was interviewed for the BBC Three show Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty , screened directly after the 50th Anniversary episode in which Baker made a surprise cameo appearance playing The Curator. It's been my entire existence. I'm delighted to be celebrating it, he said. The fans give me the credit for making Saturday more fun than it really was, in between the football, Basil Brush and Bruce Forsyth. I was right up there with all those legends and I'm grateful..

The live show featured interviews many previous Doctors and Companions from the series including Carole Ann Ford and William Russell, both of whom appeared in the first episode, An Unearthly Child, fifty years ago.
Earlier in the day five Doctors, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Matt Smith received a standing ovation at the Doctor Who Convention at London's ExCeL Centre. When asked about their favourite Doctor most cited Patrick Troughton. He always managed to sort things out without you knowing he'd done it, said Colin Baker, without Patrick none of us would be here.




FILTER: - Tom Baker - Matt Smith - Peter Davison - Sylvester McCoy - Colin Baker

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by Marcus
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - a star-studded special written and directed by Peter Davison and starring Davison alongside Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, with Paul McGann appearing too - is now available on the BBC iPlayer.


It is also scheduled to be broadcast again tonight via the Red Button service, between 9.25pm and 10.35pm.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Peter Davison - Sylvester McCoy - Colin Baker

Media Catchup: Saturday

Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
A summary of the media coverage relating to the 50th Anniversary for a Celebratory Saturday!

(note: the BBC radio broadcasts are available worldwide, but video broadcasts may be unavailable outside the United Kingdom. BBC iPlayer programmes are generally available for seven days after broadcast)

Television

  • Well there's only one thing that you really needed to remember to watch, and that was of course The Day of the Doctor. Broadcast simultaneously around many parts of the world on television (with other channels very close to tranmission, too) and in cinema, Doctor Who truly becomes global! If for some reason you managed to miss it in the United Kingdom then it is available on the BBC iPlayer (though maybe not immediately to enable the rest of the world to catch up)
  • The lead-up to the anniversary programme kicked off with BBC Breakfast fielding reports live from the Doctor Who Celebration at the Excel Centre in London by entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba and in-studio discussion with TV critic Toby Earle. The programme also included the new edition of Newswatch, which featured a report on viewers' reaction to the coverage of the series over the last couple of weeks. (BBC iPlayer link for Newswatch)
  • CBBC had a Doctor Who theme throughout the day, including the Blue Peter Doctor Who Party (BBC iPlayer) and a 12 Again special featuring cast and celebrity fan memories of Doctor Who (BBC iPlayer).
  • Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty was broadcast on BBC Three straight after The Day of the Doctor was broadcast, with Zoe Ball and Rick Edwards presenting the response to the episode from host of celebrities and fans. (BBC iPlayer)
  • There were two new items on the BBC's Red Button service during the evening; the first was a behind-the-scenes video of The Day of The Doctor (available on YouTube), and a Doctor Who skit by Peter Davison on how three former Doctors try desperately to be in the 50th Anniversary special.

Radio

  • Graham Norton broadcast his BBC Radio 2 morning show live from the Doctor Who Celebration, including chats with some of the guest stars of the day, including Tom Baker. (BBC iPlayer)
  • A very early start for Richard Latto on BBC Radio Solent as he engaged upon a look at the association between the South coast and Doctor Who. (BBC iPlayer)
  • BBC Essex featured William Grantham, winner of Blue Peter's "Design a Monster" competition, who talked to Peter Holmes about his experience. (BBC iPlayer - from 2:41:05, plus other chat at 1:23:00)
  • BBC Radio Norfolk broadcast their final two soundbites from the county's Doctor Who community, featuring Terry Molloy (BBC iPlayer) and Brian Hodgson (BBC iPlayer).
  • Other coverage includes BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Jane Smith (BBC iPlayer), BBC Radio York's Julia Booth (BBC iPlayer), BBC Radio Devon's John Govier (BBC iPlayer), and BBC Radio 1's Matt Edmonson (BBC iPlayer)

Misc Media Items

Highlights for Sunday

  • BBC Radio Norfolk presents a collection of Doctor Who anecdotes from the county from midday.
  • BBC Radio 6 has an item on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop from 8:00pm on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone.
  • UKTV in Australia and New Zealand premiere The Doctors Revisited: The Ninth Doctor, The Tenth Doctor and The Eleventh Doctor and An Adventure in Space and Time amongst others.




FILTER: - Day of the Doctor - WHO50