The Snowmen had an Appreciation Index, or AI score, of 87.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

Doctor Who scored higher than most of the Christmas Day output. The most appreciated programmes were Downton Abbey on ITV1 and Call the Midwife on BBC One, both of which scored 90.

This year's score is higher than the majority of the previous Christmas Day specials, with last year's The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe scoring 84. Only the first part of the Tenth Doctor's swansong, The End of Time - Part One, equalled the score of 87.

An additional 0.56 million have now watched The Snowmen, via the Boxing Day repeat on BBC Three, where it achieved a 2.3% share of the total TV audience.

The Snowmen has debuted in Australia, averaging 697,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It came second in its time-slot, was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's top-rating drama of the day and the twelfth highest rating programme of the day overall.  These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

The composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett has died aged 76.

As well as many and varied classical pieces, he also wrote film and TV scores, with the incidental music for the 1964 story The Aztecs being among them. The four-part adventure is to be released as a special edition DVD in March.

Born in Broadstairs, Bennett - who was also an accomplished jazz pianist - studied and later taught at the Royal Academy of Music.

His film work included the score for Nicholas and Alexandra, which starred Tom Baker as Rasputin and Michael Jayston as Nicholas and featured Julian Glover, Maurice Denham, Gordon Gostelow, Brian Cox, and Steven Berkoff.

He also provided the score for Four Weddings And A Funeral, written by Richard Curtis and starring Hugh Grant, who was one of the Doctors in the 1999 Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death, written by Steven Moffat. Other films to feature Bennett's music included Murder On The Orient Express, with George Coulouris among the cast.

Bennett was Oscar-nominated for his music for Far From The Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Murder On The Orient Express, with the latter garnering him a BAFTA award.

Appointed a CBE in 1977, he received his knighthood in 1998. Bennett moved to New York in 1979 and in his later years also became an artist noted for his collage work.

The Snowmen had an overnight audience of 7.59 million viewers, a share of 33.9% of the total TV audience.

Doctor Who was the fifth most-watched programme of the day, which saw BBC One take seven of the top ten places in the ratings chart. The most watched programme of the day was EastEnders which had 9.4 million watching.

ITV1's highest rated show of the day was Coronation Street with 8.6 million viewers.

Doctor Who was down on last year's overnight figure, which saw the show transmitted in a much later time slot, where it had 8.9 million watching. This year, against the Doctor, Emmerdale achieved 4.7 million viewers.

Despite its early start, Doctor Who out-rated some prime time shows including the Christmas episode of Downton Abbey and Call The Midwife.

Final figures, which will include those who record the programme and watch it later, will be available next week.

The Royal Mail has confirmed that it will release a set of stamps in March to commemorate Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. All 11 television Doctors will be represented on first-class stamps, with their image surrounded by the title sequence and associated logo.


A five-stamp miniature sheet will also be released, with pride of place going to the TARDIS as a first-class stamp. The other four stamps will be for second class and will feature a Dalek, Cyberman, Ood and Weeping Angel.

Andrew Hammond, Managing Director, Stamps and Collectibles at Royal Mail, said:

Fiona Eastwood, Product Development Director, BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, said:

The stamps - which will be available to buy online from abroad - will be released on Tuesday 26th March 2013 and can be pre-ordered by registering with Royal Mail. A dedicated link for overseas buyers should be available tomorrow but if people from overseas want to register before then they can do so by using the "Register" link at the top right of the page linked to above.

More information relating to the issue will be released nearer the time, and Doctor Who News is delighted to say that it will be running a competition when the stamps are issued, with some terrific Doctor Who stamp prizes from Royal Mail.

UPDATE: Overseas residents can now register their interest in the stamps by using this dedicated link.

The BBC have released a behind-the-scenes video that explores the making of The Snowmen. The confidentialette looks at how modern-day Bristol was transformed into Victorian London, with observations by Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara), Matt Smith (The Doctor), Saul Metzstein (director) and Caroline Skinner (executive producer).

The clip joins a number that have been released over the course of December, including interviews with Jenna, Dan Starkey (Strax) and Richard E Grant (Dr Simeon).

Jenna-Louise Coleman was a guest on BBC Breakfast this morning, chatting about her impending arrival as Clara in tomorrow's The Snowmen, and how this relates to her previous appearance back in September, in Asylum of the Daleks:
In a pre-recorded interview with entertainment correspondent Liza Mzimba, she said:

Talking about the interaction between her character and the Doctor, she said:
Matt Smith mentioned the relationship between the two to Lizo:
Matt Smith was interviewed in The Independent, where he also commented on the new relationship:
He also explained a little more about the Doctor's grief at the start of the episode:

Videos:

Lizo Mzimba's preview of The Snowmen is available to watch on the BBC News website. The BBC have also released an interview with Matt and Jenna as part of their Adventure Calendar.

The latest teaser clip from the BBC features Vastra, Jenny and Dr Simeon ...

The Director speaks ...

Director Saul Metzstein was interviewed by the Scottish Daily Record, during which he discussed the new-look TARDIS and making a 360° pan around the interior:
Talking about the design of the eponymous Snowmen, he said:

As mentioned earlier this month, the BFI plan to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who with special screenings each month next year in the lead-up to the Anniversary itself; the organisation has now announced details about the first quarter of 2013.

As previously mentioned, the season kicks off at the very beginning with William Hartnell's An Unearthly Child on 12th January; this will be followed on 9th February with Patrick Troughton tackling the Tomb of the Cybermen; then in March Jon Pertwee is up against The Master as The Mind of Evil is unveiled in newly restored colour! All stories are accompanied by a Q&A panel, though guests have yet to be announced.


Justin Johnson, BFI Programmer, said:

Doctor Who's executive producer Caroline Skinner said:

In November, the climax of the BFI's celebration will include a special preview of An Adventure in Space and Time , the drama written by Mark Gatiss exploring the personalities that brought the longest running sci-fi series to life.


The stories representing the other eight Doctors will be confirmed next year.