ABC Television have scheduled Planet of the Dead for transmission on Sunday 31st May at 7.30pm.

The timeslot was confirmed by Audience and Consumer Affairs in an email to a member of the Doctor Who Forum.

The press has been following filming for David Tennant's final Doctor Who story. Reports have focused on new filming by Catherine Tate, who confirmed on Radio 2 last Saturday that she and Bernard Cribbins will be appearing in the two-part Christmas story. Also spotted during filming are actress June Whitfield ("Terry and June", "Absolutely Fabulous") and actors Barry Howard ("Hi-de-Hi!") and Karl Collins ("The Bill").

Recent filming in Swansea has been covered by The Western Mail, The South Wales Echo, The South Wales Evening Post (with stories Mondayand Tuesday), The Daily Mail, and The Sun.

The Sun also claims that Russell T Davies is considering a spin-off series built around the characters of Malcolm Taylor (Lee Evans) and Capt. Erisa Magumbo (Noma Dumezweni), who appeared in "Planet of the Dead". The newspaper also managed to make a story out of the trailer for The Waters of Mars.

Finally, the Liverpool Echo has an interview with Elisabeth Sladen about her life and career. Sladen will be co-presenting a concert titled "Music from Outer Space" at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this Saturday.

Thanks to the posters on the "Media Watch" thread on the Doctor Who Forum.

With overnight figures now available for the whole of last week, Planet of the Dead rated as the 8th most watched programme on British television. When final figures are released the programme stands a good chance of obtaining a place in the top five.

As well as being one of the most watched programmes of the week, it was also one of the most appreciated, gaining an Appreciation Index score of 88. 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.

The Sunday repeat on BBC3 was watched by 0.76 million viewers and was the most watched programme on BBC3 on Sunday night. It was the fifth most watched digital programme of the day.

Monday's BBC One showing was watched by 1.8 million, winning the timeslot, with another 30,000 watching on BBC HD. The AI for the repeat was 89.

According to unofficial overnight figures, Planet of the Dead was watched by 8.41 million viewers, a 39.6% share of the audience. An additional 184,000 watched the programme on BBC HD, the channel's highest rating so far.

Doctor Who was the most watched programme on BBC1 for the day and had the second highest rating on all TV. ITV1 got the highest rating of the night with 10.52 million watching Britain's Got Talent. Up against Doctor Who, Primeval got only 2.71 million. Robin Hood got 5.26 million watching.

This makes Doctor Who the eighth most watched programme of the week so far.

On BBC3 Doctor Who Confidential, got 0.46 million watching, a 2.2% share.

Final figures will be released in 10 days time.

A brief trailer for the next Doctor Who special was shown at the end of tonight's BBC One premiere of Planet of the Dead. The trailer confirmed that the next special, the second of four to be shown this year to round off David Tennant's time as the Tenth Doctor, will be called The Waters of Mars. No specific broadcast date was given - it was stated that the episode will be shown later this year.

For viewers in the United Kingdom, David Tennant's fifth video diary is now online.

Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies has confirmed that Bernard Cribbins will be returning to the series.

Speaking this morning on BBC Breakfast Davies said Cribbins would be the Doctor's companion in David Tennant's last two episodes, due to be shown at Christmas 2009.

Bernard Cribbins first played Wilfred Mott, Donna's Grandad, in the 2007 Christmas special and throughout Season 4. His return was expected after members of the Doctor Who Forum photographed Cribbins on the Doctor Who set. At the age of eighty, Cribbins becomes the oldest companion in Doctor Who history.

Also on the programme Davies confirmed that Saturdays special, Planet of the Deadwas only completed late Monday night. He said he expected the next special to be shown "Novemberish".

Davies' BBC Breakfast interview can be seen on the BBC News website.

According to the website of the Doctor Who Information Network there's a new home for Doctor Who in Canada. Reports have been received that cable networkSPACE is the new permanent home for the series. The first four series of the newDoctor Who aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC was a co-production partner for at least part of those four seasons. Despite an initial strong commitment to Doctor Who the CBC came into criticism from fans and viewers in recent years for delays in broadcasting new episodes, decreasing promotion and failing to air the annual Christmas specials in 2007 and 2008.

Upcoming special Planet of the Dead will air on SPACE on Saturday June 20th, 2009. It is reported that Series Five will follow in 2010.

Doctor Who premiered on SPACE in March when the channel aired The Next Doctor but it was not known at that time if the the move was permanent or just a one-off.

The BBC has confirmed that Planet of the Dead will get three transmissions over the Easter Weekend.

As reported the first showing will be Saturday on BBC One at 6.45pm. This broadcast will be simulcast with the BBC HD channel, which is available free to air on Freesat as well as on Sky and Virgin Media. The programme is sandwiched between the Disney film Finding Nemo and the drama seriesRobin Hood. ITV1 will be showing Primeval from 6.15 - 7.15 clashing with the first half of Doctor Who. The second half is up against New You've Been Framed. On BBC2, Doctor Who faces the natural history series Planet Earth while Channel 4 is showing the News followed by Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant.

Planet of the Dead gets a second showing on the digital channel BBC Three at 7pm on Easter Sunday. For this showing satellite and cable viewers will be able to access a Red Button commentary from David Tennant, Julie Gardner andJames Strong.

The final showing will be on BBC One on Easter Monday at 5pm. This showing will follow the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks and will be up againstTaste the Nation on ITV1. It will be simulcast on the BBC HD channel which is also showing the HD version of Doctor Who at the Proms on Monday afternoon.

Doctor Who Confidential also gets a number of showings over the weekend with a programme exploring behind the scenes as the cast and crew travel to Dubai. First shown on Saturday at 8.30pm on BBC3, the programme is repeated on Sunday at 4.10am and 8pm.

The BBC Press Office has stated that the Doctor Who Easter special, "Planet of the Dead", will air on BBC One on Saturday, April 11 from 6:45 to 7:45 pm. The Saturday date was posted last week on the Press Office's website, and subsequently withdrawn; it has now been reposted. The episode will also be broadcast on the BBC HD channel.

A trailer for the episode is now available on the BBC Website.

According to this month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine the title of the next in the series of specials will be revealed at the end of Planet of the Dead, along with a short trail. The second special, directed by Graeme Harper, features the Doctor plunged into a world of terror. It is expected to air in the autumn.

Update: the trailer broadcast on BBC1 Wednesday evening confirmed that the episode will be broadcast on Saturday, April 11.

According to BBC journalist Lizo Mzimba on Twitter, the first television trailer for the forthcoming Doctor Who special, "Planet of the Dead", will air on BBC One on Wednesday at 9 pm, just prior to "The Apprentice".

Trailers for the special have already appeared before live audiences at a Wales rugby match and at the "Story of Doctor Who" event at the Celtic Media Festival. However, Mzimba tweets, "You didn't hear this from me. But trailer is a brand new one. It's not the one shown at the Wales V Ireland Rugby or anywhere else."