The BBC have released a new minisode to lead into the Christmas adventure The Snowmen: Vastra Investigates catches up with the Paternoster Gang as one mystery is solved and another begins ...



The official BBC website has character backgrounds for Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

A revised and updated iPad app is being released for the Doctor Who Encyclopedia later this week.

Developed by Brandwidth with BBC Books, the app has up-to-date information on every episode since the show returned to our TV screens in 2005. New entries and images cover The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe, the first five episodes of Series 7, and mini-episodes such as Pond Life. In addition, four of the 11 portals have been updated.

The app is now optimised for iOS6, and BBC Books says that no more in-app purchasing is needed.

The updated app will be released on Wednesday 19th December.

The BBC have announced that The Snowmen will feature a new arrangement of the Doctor Who theme tune, which will accompany a revamped opening title sequence:

It is now traditional for the Doctor to entertain us on Christmas Day - and for Doctor Who News to run its Christmas Ratings Competition!



This year, The Snowmen will be broadcast at 5:15pm, and will be facing ITV1's New You've Been Framed (5:00pm), Emmerdale (5:30pm), and Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs (6:00pm). Other programmes include films The Fellowship of the Ring (Channel 4 from 5:40pm) and The Santa Incident (Channel 5 from 5:25pm), and a documentary Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel (BBC2, from 5:25pm).

The Prize:

We are delighted to be able to invite the winner to a recording of a Big Finish audio adventure - the recording, which will feature Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, will take place on 21st January 2013 (see terms and conditions below).

An alternative prize will be available to the winner should they be unable to attend the recording.

Entering The Competition:

To enter the competition, please send the following details to xmas-competition@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and email address
• Your country (full address will only be requested if you are a winner)
• An alternative contact number (in case we cannot reach you through email)
• Confirmation of being able to attend the Big Finish recording (see terms and conditions)
• Where you read about this competition
• And of course ... your guess for the final viewing figure!

Previous Ratings / Current Odds:

For comparison, the ratings for the previous Christmas Day episodes in recent years are as follows: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (10.77m), A Christmas Carol (12.11m), The End Of Time: Part One (12.04m), The Next Doctor (13.10m), Voyage of the Damned (13.31m), The Runaway Bride (9.30m), The Christmas Invasion (9.84m).

The Snowmen is currently considered to be the second-most favourite to top the Christmas TV ratings, according to William Hill. Odds given at the time of writing are 4/1 (up from 5/1 earlier in the week), with the runaway favourite being EastEnders at 1/2. Downton Abbey is third at 5/1, with the other major soap Coronation Street at 8/1. Other shows expected to do well are The Royle Family (10/1) and Call the Midwife (14/1). For the ITV1 programmes in direct opposition to Doctor Who, New You've Been Framed is 100/1, Emmerdale is 40/1, and Paul O'Grady is 50/1.

Terms And Conditions:

• The competition closes at 6:15pm, 25th December 2012
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide - however, please note Big Finish details below.
• BARB figures are expected in early January; we will contact the winner once they have been published.
• In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen from random from out of our fez.
  
  
• The Big Finish recording will take place at their studio near Hammersmith, London - however, travel and accommodation is not included. You must confirm in your competition entry whether you are able to attend the recording or not - an alternative prize will be offered instead should you be a winner.
• Entrants under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
• If you do confirm you will be attending, you are also agreeing to keep the confidentiality of any plot details or other information unveiled by Big Finish or the cast.

BBC America have released a new trailer for The Snowmen, featuring a number of different clips to the original that aired on BBC One this week:

The Graham Norton Show:

BBC America have also announced that the festive edition of The Graham Norton Show that will feature Matt Smith as a guest will be broadcast immediately after The Snowmen has aired on Christmas Day. The episode will have its premiere in the United Kingdom on Friday 21st December at 10:35pm, with Matt sharing the sofa alongside comedians Billy Connolly and Jennifer Saunders, and award-winning movie star Dustin Hoffman.

The US broadcaster SyFy are to show the entire first series of K-9 on Christmas Day.

The mammoth run kicks off with Regeneration from 10:00am ET, followed by every episode back-to-back in half-hour intervals leading up to the series finale, Eclipse Of The Korven, from 10:30pm ET.

The press release follows below:

The new edition of Doctor Who Adventures has a 2013 calendar among its free gifts.

Also being given away with issue 299 - published today - are a bow tie, a pack of Doctor Who Monster Invasion cards, stickers, plus a mystery gift.

This week's magazine is a double issue, taking readers through to Thursday 27th December. Among its contents:

BBC Books have announced the release of a second Doctor Who ebook. The story, written by Justin Richards, is set prior to the events of this year’s Christmas special, The Snowmen, and features Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

BBC Books’ second digital-only Doctor Who adventure (the first being The Angel's Kiss) will be published on 18 December 2012.

BBC America is to broadcast a special programme on the 21st December to look at the Top Five of several favourite Doctor Who topics:


The Doctor Who Ultimate List of Lists is a show in the channel's The Brit List series, which explores the shared British and American pop-culture.

The Entertainment Memorabilia auction held at Bonhams in London yesterday saw items from Doctor Who and its spin-off series fetch thousands of pounds, with the star item being the Nissan Figaro driven by Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures going for £6,000 - the top end of its estimate.

Various costumes and props from Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood went under the hammer but not everything was sold. A TARDIS exterior panel, listed as having been supplied by the BBC to the firm that made the title sequence for Sylvester McCoy's inaugural series as the Doctor, was withdrawn from the auction, having had an estimate of £400-500, and autographed scripts from Revelation of the Daleks, which had an estimate of £500-600, failed to sell.

The auction was held at Bonhams' Knightsbridge saleroom.

Full results of related auction items - sale price includes premium (estimate in brackets):

Lot	Description	Sold for (£)
118	Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. poster	625 (500-700)
143	Planet of the Spiders original scripts	875 (1,200-1,500)
144	SV7 costume from The Robots of Death	2,500 (2,000-3,000)
145	Revelation of the Daleks autographed scripts for episodes 1 and 2	Failed to sell (500-600)
146	Remembrance of the Daleks autographed OB schedule	187 (250-300)
148	Foam shark model from A Christmas Carol	875 (1,000-1,500)
150	TW: Scale corpse model from Countrycide	250 (200-300)
151	TW: Captain Jack Harkness's coat	2,125 (700-900)
152	TW: Jack's safe door	312 (500-700)
153	TW: Jack's bedroom hatch door	250 (300-400)
154	TW: Martha Jones' costume from Reset	625 (300-500)
155	TW: Gwen Cooper's costume from Meat	312 (500-700)
156	SJA: Sarah's costume from Invasion of the Bane	1,250 (500-600)
157	SJA: Two "Slab" costumes from Warriors of Kudlak	350 (250-300)
158	SJA: Eve's costume from The Mad Woman in the Attic	250 (200-250)
159	SJA: Androvax costume from Prisoner of the Judoon and The Vault of Secrets	450 (300-400)
160	SJA: Clyde Langer costumes (15)	500 (350-400)
161	SJA: Shansheeth part costume from Death of the Doctor	687 (250-300)
162	SJA: Two Mister Dread costumes from The Vault of Secrets	200 (250-300)
163	SJA: Sarah's car (1991 Nissan Figaro two-door Targa Coupe)	6,000 (4,000-6,000)