The BBC have released some new publicity stills for the forthcoming Christmas Special The Snowmen, featuring Matt Smith as the Doctor, Neve McIntosh as Vastra, and Richard E Grant as Dr Simeon.

Sneak peek at the new TARDIS!

The BBC have also issued a press release unveiling part of a redesigned TARDIS interior:

We Wish You A Merry Christmas - It's Showtime!:

Meanwhile, publicity for the Christmas line-up continues with the BBC releasing a new video in the lead up to their "Light Up Christmas!" day on 11th December.In this 'episode', part of the It's Showtime! themed advertising campaign, many of the entertainers and characters from festive programming take their turn to wish viewers a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" - including the The Doctor himself!

A second volume of Legends of Kids TV has been published, and features some 44 interviews with stars of children's television both from the past and present.

This volume includes an interview with Sophie Aldred, who chats about her career in children's shows - and what's so special about Sylvester McCoy's eyebrows... Also, new series regular costume actor Paul Kasey tells how he went from his childhood on a farm to trying to conquer the universe!

The book is available to buy from publisher GJB Publishing, and all proceeds will go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's charity. It is also possible to donate through Just Giving.

The sixth volume chronicling the adventures of the Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who Magazine will be published on Thursday 20th December, and covers the five adventures broadcast during September this year, plus associated mini-episodes and last year's Children in Need auction escapade.

The next edition of Doctor Who Magazine is a bumper-sized 100 page issue, hitting the shops on Thursday 13th December.

The latest Christmas Special, The Snowmen, is extensively previewed, featuring new photos from the adventure, and revealing hints from writer Steven Moffat and producer Marcus Wilson. Plus, new sidekick Jenna-Louise Coleman tells the magazine of her role:
Also in this issue:

• The Doctor's Gang! DWM interviews The Snowmen's stars, Neve McIntosh (Silurian warrior Madame Vastra), Catrin Stewart (Jenny, Vastra's companion) and Dan Starkey (Strax the Sontaran) and discovers what it's like to be part of the Doctor's Victorian 'Scooby Gang'!
• Look to the Future, Now! Doctor Who's head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat takes DWM readers on an episode-by-episode guide to the next series of eight adventures, set for broadcast in 2013 – only in Production Notes!
• That was the Year that Was! 2012 brought thrills as well as sadness – and some brilliant new episodes of Doctor Who. DWM turns back the clock to the start of the year to relive the highlights of the last 12 months in The DWM Review of 2012.
• The Eight Legs of Christmas! The Time Team get into the festive mood, travel back to Christmas 2006, and watch the Tenth Doctor have an adventure with Donna Noble for the very first time. What will Chris, Emma, Michael and Will make of The Runaway Bride... ?
• Twisted Imagination! School friends Amelia Pond and Rory Williams encounter a scary Santa and his evil elves – can their young chum Mels save them? Find out in Imaginary Enemies, written by Scott Gray with art by Mike Collins.
• Oh Yes It Is! Christmas is the panto season – and to celebrate this beloved British tradition, the Watcher explores how pantomime's influence can be found throughout Doctor Who's history. Oh yes it can!
• Happy Anniversary! DWM takes a nostalgic look back to Doctor Who's silver anniversary in 1988, and a season that featured Daleks, Cybermen, creepy clowns and the Kandy Man, in Countdown to 50!
• The Best Year Ever! Next year will be the most exciting time to be a fan ever! But which year has been the best so far? 1983 or 2005? Johnny Candon and Toby Hadoke argue it out in A Battle of Wits.
• Two Doctors For Christmas! David Morrissey is The Next Doctor! The Fact of Fiction looks back on Christmas 2008's memorable Tenth Doctor adventure, and talks to writer Russell T Davies, who reveals hitherto unknown secrets about the seasonal show.
• Quizzes and Puzzles! Try your luck in DWM's competitions and crosswords, to win amazing prizes from the latest Blu-ray release to deluxe CD box sets! And then engage your brain, and prepare to have your knowledge tested to the limit, in The Watcher's Fiendishly Festive Christmas Quiz!
• Between The Lines! The Watcher investigates the curious case of the scenes we never see, champions another supporting artist of the month, and challenges readers with the Six Faces of Delusion in Wotcha!

PLUS! Three free collectable art cards featuring the Doctor, Clara, and Vastra/Strax, all the latest official news, the latest DVDs, books and CDs reviewed, sneak previews of forthcoming merchandise, a cryptic preview of the new-look TARDIS interior, and much, much more!

Day Seven of the BBC Adventure Calendar sees the release of the second part of an interview with Jenna-Louise Coleman, who makes her debut as the Doctor's new sidekick in The Snowmen on Christmas Day.

Here, she talks about her fun in the role, and where she'll be on the day itself.

The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia is to run another range of courses during December and January using Doctor Who as a basis to teach participants skills in the industry.

NIDA have run Doctor Who related classes in the past for children/young people, teaching acting and script writing techniques, but this year also sees one aimed at those aged 18 and above (highlighted below).

As with last year, the BBC are to present a number of special linking trailers to mark its festive programming on BBC One this Christmas. Introduced by a teaser trailer last week, this year sees comic actor Rob Brydon and his able assistant (actress Sarah Alexander) producing BBC One Christmas in a series of adverts created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and directed by David Kerr through Red Bee Media.

The series is reported to involve Matt Smith, as well as David Walliams, Miranda Hart, the cast of Call The Midwife, Lee Mack, Strictly Come Dancing’s Craig Revel Horwood, the cast of EastEnders and Pudsey the dancing dog.

Episode One - broadcast tonight on BBC One just before Eastenders and not on the 8th December as originally expected - does not feature Smith himself, but Doctor Who is represented instead in the form of the TARDIS being mistaken for a dressing room by Mrs Brown (Brendan O'Carroll from the BAFTA-winning sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys).

It's Showtime!

The new edition of Doctor Who Adventures - out tomorrow - comes with six free gifts: a badge, stickers, a bouncy ball, a magnet, a mini stamp, and a keyring.

Issue 298 also has posters and more comic adventures, plus:

The BBC have launched a new festive daily game for UK residents to win presents on Facebook:

Neil Gaiman will be in Tasmania next month as part of the music-and-arts-centred Mona Foma Festival. An Evening With Neil Gaiman is to be held at the Theatre Royal in Hobart on Sunday 20th January. (NB: Although the event is described as being suitable for all ages, explicit language is used in the theatre's web page about the show.)

In addition, Gaiman's urban fantasy TV series Neverwhere, which aired on BBC Two in 1996 and had an accompanying novelisation, is currently being made for BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. Adapted by Dirk Maggs, who is also co-directing it, and with a cast that includes Christopher Lee, Bernard Cribbins, Anthony Head, Yasmin Paige, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Don Gilet, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Andrew Sachs, the six-parter is scheduled to be broadcast during the early part of 2013. [neilgaiman.com, 28 Nov 2012]

Sheila Hancock and Lee Evans are to star in a new comedy at Wyndham's Theatre in London next year. Barking In Essex tells the tale of a gangster fresh out of jail and returning to his dysfunctional family to retrieve more than £3.5m. It has been written by Clive Exton and will be directed by Harry Burton, with Evans playing the "dim-witted idiot of the criminal underbelly" Darnley and Hancock playing Emmie, described as Darnley's "Rottweiler mother". The production previews from Friday 6th September, opening on Monday 16th September. [BBC News, 30 Nov 2012]

A new play by David Haig that was due to open at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh next May before transferring to Chichester Festival Theatre has run into casting problems. Pressure, which is about the meteorologist Captain James Stagg, who had the task of predicting the weather ahead of the D-Day landings in the Second World War, has been postponed until spring 2014 while the search to find "the right person" to play Stagg continues. [The Stage, 30 Nov 2012]

Jessica Hynes and Olivia Colman have both been nominated as Best TV Comedy Actress in this year's British Comedy Awards. Colman has, in fact, been nominated twice - firstly for Rev and secondly for Twenty Twelve, with Hynes's nomination also being for Twenty Twelve. The spoof "mockumentary" about this year's London Olympics, which had a voiceover commentary by David Tennant, is itself up for Best Sitcom against, among others, The Thick Of It, which starred Peter Capaldi, and both Capaldi and Hugh Bonneville are vying for the title of Best TV Comedy Actor for their roles in those two respective shows. Meanwhile, David Mitchell is in the running for Best Male Television Comic and he is also among the nominees for the publicly-voted King and Queen of Comedy. The ceremony will be shown live on Channel 4 on Wednesday 12th December. [BBC News, 2 Dec 2012]

Tamsin Greig and Anne Reid will be among the guest stars appearing in a new darkly comic anthology that has just started filming for BBC Two. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the six-part series, which has the working title of Inside No 9, will take a look at what goes on behind closed doors at six very different residences sharing the number 9. [BBC Media Centre, 3 Dec 2012]

Sheridan Smith - companion Lucie Miller to the Eighth Doctor in the Big Finish audio dramas - is to return as mystery-solver Jonathan Creek's sidekick Joey Ross in a new episode of the BBC One crime-comedy-drama. Filming on The Clue of the Savant's Thumb, written by David Renwick, starts later this month, with the 90-minute Jonathan Creek special due to air next Easter. [BBC Media Centre, 5 Dec 2012]