Sam Hodges, Head of Communications for BBC1, Fiction, Daytime and HD at the BBC has confirmed on Twitter this afternoon that Doctor Who has indeed been commissioned for a further fourteen episodes, with Matt Smith continuing in the role. Head writer Stephen Moffat re-iterated:
No details on how the next series will be broadcast have been revealed at present, though Doctor Who Magazine confirmed that one will be the now traditional Christmas Special for 2011. Meanwhile the Guardian has reported a BBC spokesperson as saying:

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The news comes after UK satirical publication Private Eye commented on Twitter that details on the state of Doctor Who production appear in their latest issue; coupled by an interview with Matt Smith in Saturday's Mirror about his Hollywood aspirations, this had promoted widespread speculation in fandom over the series' future.

Immersive theatre producers Punchdrunk are to create a new interactive experience for the Manchester International Festival based upon Doctor Who.

Aimed for children between the ages of six and twelve, The Crash of the Elysium is based around the wreck of the steamship and an exploration inside the remains. There are two tie-in websites that provide more 'background' to the adventure, the Northwest Historical Society's coverage of the crash, and a blog by salvage diver Daryl Christofi and his plans to visit the wreck.

The experience is written by Felix Barrett, creative director for Punchdrunk, and Tom MacRae - who wrote Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel for the 2006 series of Doctor Who - and the story is based on an original idea by series head writer Steven Moffat.

As with a number of associated projects in recent years, there's an introductory video on the site from the Doctor himself (see below for more on this)



The performances will take place at the BBC's new MediaCity UK building at Salford Quays as part of this year's festival, running from 30th June to 17th July.

The production is around an hour in length, and the audience walk throughout the performance. The show is restricted to children in the age range 6-12, with a version just for them and another which is aimed for younger children of 6-8 accompanied by a parent. Full details including booking information can be found on the festival event page.

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Punchdrunk are known for their projects to convert old buildings into theatrical experiences, and as their site explains:

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The video above has also appeared on the BBC website itself as part of a 'hidden messages' game played over the first few episodes of the last series.

Doctor Who took the top three places of the most requested programmes on the BBC iPlayer in May.

Top of the chart was the Neil Gaiman written episode, The Doctor's Wife, which was requested over 1.242 million times during the month. Close behind was The Curse of the Black Spot with 1.239 million requests and Day of the Moon with 1.120 million requests.

The highest non Who programme was The Apprentice Episode 2 which came in fourth with 1.18 million requests. The Rebel Flesh was fifth with 1.145 million requesting and The Almost People crept into the top ten with 0.848 million requesting, dispite only being available for the last four days of the month.

The most requested programme this year is still Episode 2 of the Matt Lucas, David Walliams comedy, Come Fly With Me which has been requested 1.86 million times. Hot on its heals is The Impossible Astronaut with 1.79 million requests so far, needing just another 70,000 before it goes off line at the end of this week to take the top place. Day of the Moon is currently 6th for the year.

Nothing has yet come near toppling the Matt Smith début episode, The Eleventh Hour, which still holds the record for the most requested programme ever with over 2.5 million requests.

The complete request analysis for iPlayer in May are available from the BBC Internet Blog

The Almost People achieved a final official rating of of 6.72 million viewers.

The figure, which includes those who watched the programme within seven days of broadcast, makes Doctor Who the 6th most watched programme on BBC One for the week.

Overall it was either 20th or 21st for the week, depending on the numbers watching Friday's edition of Emmerdale on ITV1 HD. Figures outside the ITV1 HD Top Ten are not yet available. An ITV1 HD audience of over 290,000 would see Fridays Emmerdale push Doctor Who out of the top twenty for the first time since Silence in the Library in 2008.

Full figures, which will reveal the final chart position of the episode, should be available in the next few of days.

Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes To War had an Appreciation Index, or AI score of 88, the joint highest of the series so far.

The AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the episode. The score was the highest of the day on the two main channels with only Dad's Army on BBC Two and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King scoring higher, albeit with lower audiences.

The Sunday BBC Three repeat had 0.66 million watching, with an additional 0.05 million watching on BBC HD.

Sunday saw two programmes score higher ratings than Saturday's Doctor Who, pushing the programme into 30th place for the week.

Official ratings should be released next Monday which will include those time-shifting the episode, and should see the programme in a much higher position in the charts.

Saturday's Doctor Who Confidential had an audience of 0.56 million with 0.02 million watching on BBC HD.

5.5 million viewers watched episode seven of Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes To War, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The final story before the mid season break attracted 25.4% of the overnight audience.

Doctor Who was the sixth most watched programme of the day with ITV1 taking the top five places and Britain's Got Talent results show winning the day with 12.5 million watching. The new talent show Popstar to Operastar and Euro 2012 Qualifier Live also beat the Doctor, although Doctor Who had higher figures than the football during the period they were both on together. This was after the game itself had finished, while post-match analysis was being broadcast.

The weekly chart was dominated by ITV1 which won every one on the top twenty places, thanks to the daily showing of Britain's Got Talent. Although Doctor Who is currently 28th for the week on overnight figures it is the 3rd most watched show on the BBC for the week.

Official figures for the story, which will include those time shifting the programme and should see the programme enter the top twenty, should be available next Sunday.

The BBC are looking for Doctor Who fans willing to demonstrate their knowledge of the programme in front of the nation on prime time Saturday night television.

A new entertainment show is being planned for BBC One, called Epic Win which will see contestants pit their skills against fellow fans for the chance to win up to £3,000.

To compete you need to be aged 18 and above and prepared to go up against a fellow fan in a special Doctor Who challenge.

To find out more visit the show's BBC Website. Closing date 18th June.

BARB have now issued final ratings for the week ending 22nd May making Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh the 13th most watched programme of the week.

The show was once again the highest non-soap drama of the week and held the 6th position in the BBC One chart.

The chart does not include iPlayer figures where over 1 million have already accessed this episode.

Doctor Who: The Almost People had an Appreciation Index or AI score of 86, once more putting into the excellent category. The score was one of the highest of the day.

The Sunday evening BBC Three repeat had 0.39 million watching, a 1.6% share of the audience.

Sunday night was a much stronger night than Saturday in terms of overnight figures, with 4 programmes rating higher than Doctor Who, pushing the programme down into 32nd place for the week.

Britain's Got Talent was the highest rated show of the week with 10.3 million watching.

The official figures will be published next Monday which should see Doctor Who rise considerably in the weekly chart.

5.0 million viewers watched episode six of Doctor Who: The Almost People, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The second half of the two part story, written by Matthew Graham, attracted 24.4% of the overnight audience, with 0.57 million watching on BBC One HD.

Although this represents the lowest overnight figure of the series so far, in terms of placing the episode continues the trend of all previous weeks of being the second most-watched programme of the day, a million viewers ahead of third placed Casualty. The UEFA Champions League Final: Barcelona v Manchester United took the top spot for the day , with some 7.9 million watching the match on ITV1.

More people watched Doctor Who than the Football during the period they were on together, although the overnight share was lower than in previous weeks. Figures also indicated around two million viewers switched from BBC1 to ITV1 as Doctor Who ended, reflecting their preference to watch the Doctor first!

Television viewing across the day was down, with many families away from home at the start the half term holiday. The final official ratings, which includes those who record the programme and watch it later, will be available next Sunday.

Doctor Who currently stands as the 27th most watched programme of the week.

On BBC Three, Doctor Who Confidential had an overnight audience of 0.34 million.