Some fans in America have been enjoying the Doctor Who series finale early due to a mistake in the American distribution of the Series 7 Blu-rays and DVDs.

The Name of the Doctor, which concludes the current series of the show, is due for transmission next weekend in the UK, North America and Australia. The episode is included in the Series Seven - Part Two Blu-ray and DVD sets, which were due to be released on 28 May.

However a distribution error has meant some copies of the discs have already been sent out in North America giving some fans a sneak preview of the final episode.

Doctor Who's brand manager, Edward Russell, has appealed to fans who have seen the episode to keep the show's secrets until it is broadcast at the weekend. On twitter he said
Update Monday. The BBC have now added on Twitter: "Steven Moffat has promised if fans help keep the finale’s secrets, we’ll release a special video featuring Matt and David right after the ep!". This was also detailed via their Facebook page:

Update Tuesday. An email has been sent to recipients of the boxed set, as follows:

Nightmare in Silver achieved an overnight audience average of 4.7 million viewers (with a peak of 5.6m), a share of 21.4% of the total TV audience during its broadcast.

Britain's Got Talent remains the nation's favourite programme to watch on Saturday evenings with an average of 10.9 million (47% share. 12.3m peak). The late afternoon FA Cup Final on ITV1 (the match finish overlapping Doctor Who) saw a peak viewing of 9.4 million (42% share), though its overall average was 4.96 million viewers (31.3% share). Meanwhile, The Voice remained BBC One's top show of the evening with 7.4 million viewers.

Final ratings will be released next week, which normally sees a substantial increase in Doctor Who's audience once those who timeshift the programme are factored in.

The BBC have now released She Said, He Said, the mini episode to set the scene for next week's The Name of the Doctor, which is available to watch on television in the UK via the Red Button service.

The times scheduled are as follow:

Saturday	7:40pm-midnight
Sunday	6:15pm-8:00pm
Monday	5:10pm-5:45pm
Tuesday	6:30pm-Midnight
Wednesday	Midnight-6:00am
Thursday	4:00am-5:10pm
Thursday	7:15pm-7:55pm
Thursday	9:30pm-10:25pm
Friday	4:00am-12:00pm

The service is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media, and is available online via the BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

The trailer for The Name of the Doctor is also available to watch via the BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

A video of the guest panel at last month's BFI celebratory screening of The Robots of Death can now be watched online.

The event, which was held on Saturday 20th April as part of the BFI's Doctor Who At 50 season, marked the Fourth Doctor's era.

The BFI has uploaded a four-minute excerpt featuring Tom Baker, which can be seen below and on its YouTube channel.


The fuller, 32-minute presentation, which also features former companion actress Louise Jameson and ex-producer Philip Hinchcliffe, can be seen here. The discussion was led by season co-curator Justin Johnson.

The BFI says it will be uploading the panel video from last Saturday's Fifth Doctor event next week.

As reported earlier, the next celebratory screening will be The Two Doctors on Saturday 15th June at 2pm. Because demand for all the events so far has been so high, tickets are now being allocated on a ballot basis.

As part of the celebration of the two Peter Cushing movies, Dr Who and The Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD being released in high-definition on Blu-ray on the 27th May, Studio Canal have arranged a number of presentations of the films on the big screen in the United Kingdom, in association with the Independent Cinema Office.


The two films have been digitally remastered and repackaged for both DVD and Blu-ray, with both released individual and as a limited collectors edition of the two together.

DR WHO AND THE DALEKS Directed by Gordon Flemyng With Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden, Roberta Tovey Directed by Gordon Flemyng and now fully restored, DR. WHO & THE DALEKS (1965) was the first big screen film adaptation of British TV's most iconic sci-fi hero, and the first time Doctor Who was ever seen in colour. British film legend Peter Cushing plays everyone's favourite Timelord, and having invented the TARDIS, a strange machine capable of travelling into other dimensions, the Doctor and his three young companions set forth on a quest through time and space. Their journey takes them into the dark, undiscovered depths of the universe and to the planet of Skaro. A primitive world devastated by nuclear war and populated by two warring species, a peaceful tribe known as Thals and a life form heavily mutated by radiation, encased in protective machines. A merciless force of destruction known as The Daleks Extras: Audio Commentary with Roberta Tovey and Jenny Linden / Dalekmania / Restoring Dr. Who And The Daleks (new) / Interview With Gareth Owen (new) / Stills Gallery / Trailer DVD Tech Specs: Cert: U / Region 2 / Total Running Time: approx. 79 min / Colour / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 / Feature Audio: Mono 2.0 / English Language / Catalogue No: OPTD2529 Blu+ray Tech Specs: Cert: U / Region B / Total Running Time: approx. 82 min / Colour / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 / Feature Audio: Mono 2.0 LPCM / English Language / Catalogue No: OPTBD2529

DALEKS' INVASION EARTH 2150A.D. Directed by Gordon Flemyng With Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, Roberta Tovey and Jill Curzon Directed by Gordon Flemyng and now fully restored, DALEKS' INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. (1966) stars Peter Cushing in his return to the big screen as British TV's most iconic sci-fi hero, Doctor Who. The earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet earth now belongs The Daleks, a destructive arm of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves. Meanwhile deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there's only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet earth. A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as. The Doctor. Extras: Restoring Daleks. Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (new) / Interview with Bernard Cribbins (new)/ Interview with Gareth Owen (new)/ Stills Gallery / Trailer DVD Tech Specs: Cert: U / Region 2 / Total Running Time: approx. 80 min / Colour / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 / Feature Audio: Mono 2.0 / English Language / Catalogue No: OPTD2530 Blu+ray Tech Specs: Cert: U / Region B / Total Running Time: approx. 84 min / Colour / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 / Feature Audio: Mono 2.0 LPCM / English Language / Catalogue No: OPTBD2530

Competition:

Thanks to Studio Canal we have three copies of the boxed set for readers in the United Kingdom to win. To be in with a chance, simply answer this question:
Please send your answer along with your name, address and where you saw the competition to comp-movies@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "Thal play!". Only one answer per household can be accepted. Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents only, and closes on 26th May 2013.

Doctor Who is to be honoured with a special tribute to be shown at Sunday's BAFTA television award ceremony.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts will be marking the programme's 50th Anniversary year by showing a video montage celebrating the long history of the show.

Current companion Jenna-Louise Coleman will also attend the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London and will present one of the night’s awards.

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, said:
Steven Moffat, Doctor Who’s Lead Writer and Executive Producer, said the production team would be sending Daleks to patrol the red carpet:
Doctor Who won the main BAFTA award for Best Drama Series in 2006 and has won many BAFTA Craft Awards since the series returned in 2005.

Big Finish have released details on the latest adventures for the Doctor and his companions in May ...

Competition:

This month's competition thanks to Big Finish is to win one of five copies of The Apocalypse Mirror. To be in with a chance to win, please answer the following question:
Send your answer to comp-apocalypse@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "Beckindale re-union", along with your name, address, and where you saw the competition (the news website, twitter, facebook, etc.). Only one entry per postal address will be accepted. The competition is open worldwide, and the closing date is 31st May 2013.

Sunday 12th May sees the broadcast of two four-part Peter Davison stories, Earthshock and Snakedance on Australian and New Zealand television. They are screening as part of the 50th Anniversary season of Doctor Who on the UKTV channel.

Earthshock is scheduled to screen in both countries at 2:40pm. Snakedance is scheduled in New Zealand at 4:20pm and in Australia at 4:30pm. New Zealand has an additional screening on Monday 13th May at 2:40am and 4:20am respectively.

Earthshock was first broadcast in Australia in 1982 and in New Zealand in 1983. Snakedance was first broadcast in both countries in 1983.


The UKTV billing describes the stories as follows:

Earthshock: In the 26th century, a party of soldiers led by Professor Kyle & Lt. Scott investigate the death of a palaeontologist murdered by androids while studying dinosaur remains in a cave.

Snakedance: The Tardis lands on Manussa where Tegan once again gets possessed by the Mara, who plan to break into the physical world.

UKTV is showing stories throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The stories are two of a set of six stories featuring Peter Davison's Doctor due to be broadcast during May. The rest of the month's line up includes: Frontios and Resurrection of the Daleks (19 May), and The Caves of Androzani (26 May).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

Full ratings data for the week ending 28th April 2013 is now available and gives Doctor Who: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS an official rating of 6.5 million viewers, a share of 30.2% of the total television audience.

Once ITV HD and +1 figures are factored in, Doctor Who just slipped out of the top twenty as the 21st most watched programme on British Television for the week.

On BBC One, Doctor Who was the seventh most watched programme of the week and it was the third most watched programme of Saturday, behind the two reality shows Britain's Got Talent and The Voice.

On ITV the drama starring David Tennant, Broadchurch, had 10.46 million watching once HD and +1 figures are included, and was the second most watched programme of the week.

Figures do not include iPlayer viewings, figures for which will be available later.

The last episode of the current series is to have a prequel, it was announced this afternoon.

Entitled She Said, He Said, it has been written by showrunner Steven Moffat and will feature Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara and Matt Smith as the Doctor.

According to the show's official website, it will be one of the longest prequels the show has had and will look at "how little Clara knows about the Doctor . . . and vice versa."

The minisode will be made available from the official website and via the BBC's Red Button service straight after Nightmare in Silver ends in the UK this coming Saturday at 7.45pm. Series finale The Name of the Doctor airs in the UK on Saturday 18th May, with the time still to be confirmed.