The BBC have today announced their Christmas 2012 lineup, and this evening saw the first BBC One Christmas Trailer broadcast on the channel before EastEnders and again before Last Tango in Halifax: a number of brief clips from The Snowmen represented Doctor Who's place within the Christmas schedules.


Roger Mosey, Controller, BBC Vision, said:
The press release goes on to mention Doctor Who directly, with:
The BBC synopsis of the episode itself has also been published as part of the BBC One line-up for the Christmas week:

The time of transmission is yet to be confirmed, with the BBC reporting that the schedules will be finalised on 4th December.


Meanwhile, the BBC have also launched Facebook and Twitter identities for BBC One - both of which launched on Doctor Who's anniversary last Friday!

At the time of writing, the Facebook page prominently features Doctor Who, and includes the "Snowmen" publicity still with the tag line "Something's dreaming of a white Christmas".

The BBC today released a special promotional image for the forthcoming Christmas episode The Snowmen. As with episodes earlier this year, it has been done in the style of a film poster to reflect what showrunner Steven Moffat has called Series 7's "blockbuster" approach of "big movie-style stories".


A similar poster was released by BBC America.

In addition, the BBC has released a screengrab featuring the subject of the episode's title.


The BBC is yet to confirm when on Christmas Day The Snowmen will air in the UK. It will be shown in the USA and Canada at 9pm ET on Christmas Day by, respectively, BBC America and SPACE, while ABC1 will be broadcasting it in Australia on Boxing Day (known as Proclamation Day in South Australia) at 7.30pm.

The actress Dinah Sheridan died today - 29 years to the day she was seen by TV viewers in the UK as the Time Lady Chancellor Flavia in the 20th-anniversary story The Five Doctors.

Sheridan, who was 92, made her film debut aged just 15 but put her acting career on hold to become an ambulance driver when the Second World War broke out. She appeared in a few films during the war but her career started to take off after the war ended, and in 1953 she achieved real success with Genevieve, a comedy about a veteran car rally and notable for Doctor Who fans for the presence of genuine police boxes in shot!

Marriage and health problems subsequently saw Sheridan retire from acting for a number of years but she made a triumphant return on the big screen in 1970 with The Railway Children, co-starring Bernard Cribbins. Among her many TV roles, she appeared with Nigel Havers in Don't Wait Up (which also featured Jane How, Simon Williams, Timothy Bateson, Milton Johns, and Wanda Ventham) as well as Keith Barron and Angus Lennie in All Night Long - both BBC TV sitcoms.

Married four times, Sheridan had three children with her first husband, Jimmy Hanley. Their first child, a daughter, tragically died just three days after she was born in 1944. Their other two children were Jeremy Hanley, who for a time was chairman of the Conservative party, and the actress and presenter Jenny Hanley.

Sheridan died peacefully at home in Northwood, Middlesex, surrounded by her family, said her agent.

More performances have been added to next month's Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular for a second time.

The event at Sydney Opera House will feature music composed by Murray Gold, performed by The Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Ben Foster.

Originally planned to be held on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December only, two shows were added for Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th December. Now three extra performances have been slotted on for the following two days: matinee and evening concerts on Thursday 20th December and an evening one on Friday 21st December.

The musical celebration of Doctor Who will be presented by Alex Kingston and Mark Williams, with various monsters from the series poised to overrun the concert venue too.

To book, go to the Sydney Opera House website. (NB: Both of the Saturday performances are now sold out and there is currently limited availability for the Sunday matinee.)

The fifth in our occasional series marking the 50th anniversary of events leading to the creation of a true TV legend.

The story so far. In the summer of 1962, the BBC commissioned a report into identifying specific science-fiction stories suitable for adapting for television.

The report started events that would lead to the transmission of the first episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23rd November 1963, exactly 49 years ago today. Today we examine the TV schedule of 50 years ago.

Exactly one year before Doctor Who started, the BBC was showing Captain Pugwash, the John Ryan cartoon series following the adventures of Captain Horatio Pugwash as he sailed the high seas in The Black Pig, assisted by trusty cabin boy Tom, and pirates Willy, Barnabas and Master Mate. The character had first been seen in the comic The Eagle in 1950, before appearing as a strip in Radio Times. He came to television in 1957, with the voices provided by Peter Hawkins.

Other highlights of the day included a Sid James comedy, the latest in the American series Dr Kildare, starring Richard Chamberlain, and a look at the work of the French actress, singer, screenwriter and director Jeanne Moreau, who had recently been seen in the film Jules and Jim.

Saturday evening saw The Lone Ranger being transmitted in what would become the Doctor Who slot. The episode shown was the final one in the fourth series of the American show. Starring Clayton Moore, it first aired in the States in 1957.

Home-grown entertainment came in the form of Mr Pastry's Pet Shop. Mr Pastry was a bumbling old man with a walrus moustache, who had adventures, partly slapstick, partly comic-dance, with two young friends. He was played by Richard Hearne, who would later be considered for the role of the Fourth Doctor.

Later in the evening, viewers could see the police drama Dixon of Dock Green and highlights from Bertram Mills Circus. Another American series, the Western Laramie, provided the main drama of the evening, with the 1946 psychological thriller The Spiral Staircase taking viewers up to the late news.

The late evening saw the debut of a new satirical series, That Was The Week That Was. Devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost, the programme - whose theme music was composed by Ron Grainer - would go on to be one of the most influential BBC series of the early Sixties, redefining the relationship between television and the political world. It was also a show that had a particular date with television history ahead of it a year later, when possibly its most famous edition - a shortened, non-satirical tribute to the assassinated US President John F Kennedy - was broadcast on the night of Saturday 23rd November 1963.

On consecutive Thursdays between 8th November and 29th November 1962, the sci-fi serial The Monsters was broadcast by the BBC. Based on a Panorama documentary concerning the Loch Ness Monster, the drama - written by Evelyn Frazer and Vincent Tilsley - centred on a zoologist on honeymoon searching for a similar creature and stumbling upon a bigger mystery to do with humanity's survival. The four 45-to-50-minute episodes were directed by Mervyn Pinfield and the cast included Philip Madoc, Clifford Cox, George Pravda, Clive Morton, Clifford Earl, and Norman Mitchell. The music was by Humphrey Searle, and Bernard Wilkie was one half of the team behind the special effects.

BBC TV's schedule for 23rd and 24th November 1962:

BBC: FRIDAY 23rd November 1962 9.40am - 11.55am: Schools Programming 1pm (Welsh transmitters): Newyddion (Welsh-language news programme) 1.05pm - Heddiw 1.25pm - News 1.30pm - Let's Imagine: Living Under the Sea 2.05pm - Pioneers of Social Change: Number 9 - Lloyd George 2.25pm - Interval 2.30pm - Watch With Mother Closedown... 5pm - Tales of the Riverbank 5.10pm - Captain Pugwash 5.25pm - What's New? 5.50pm - News 6pm - View 6.50pm - Tonight Trevor Philpott reports from Belgium on the problem of language. Part of the country speaks Flemish, the other French, leading to deep divisions, culminating in riots. The Government's solution is a language frontier. Plus, if you're looking for a change of menu this weekend, then maybe Louise Davies has an idea for you. Paella. 7.29pm - Headline News 7.30pm - Adventure: First Look at Africa Series of films taken by world travellers & explorers. The story of an expedition into the regions of Uganda, virtually unknown to man, by a party of English & African students. Narrated by David Parry. 8pm - Dr Kildare 8.50pm - Citizen James: The Jury Comedy series starring Sid James, featuring Sydney Tafler, Walter Hudd and Derek Nimmo. 9.15pm - News Including reports on four British engineers killed in the Hungarian airliner crash in Paris and the murder of George Brinham, a member of the Labour National Executive who was killed in his flat by a 16-year-old boy. 9.25pm - Wednesday's Child, play 10.30pm - Film Profile: Jeanne Moreau Derek Prouse talks to French actress Jeanne Moreau about her career. 11pm - News 11.10pm - Weather: Road Works Report

BBC: SATURDAY 24th November 1962 12.10pm (Welsh transmitters) - Telewele 12.35pm - Newyddion 12.40pm - Public Service announcements 12.45pm - Grandstand including racing from Newbury, Ice skating, Championship Snooker from Birmingham, Rugby League: Hull v Wigan and Sports Results and News Service 5pm - The Lone Ranger: One Nation Indivisible Two brothers working their way west after they lose their farm because of the war encounter the Lone Ranger and learn about what a future can be if they can let go of the past 5.25pm - Mr Pastry's Pet Shop: 2, A Very Dark Horse 5.50pm - News 5.53pm - Today's Sport 6pm - Juke Box Jury 6.30pm Dixon of Dock Green: A Home of One's Own. Police drama starring Jack Warner 7.15pm - Bertram Mills Circus 8pm - Laramie 8.45pm - Film: The Spiral Staircase A serial killer is targeting women with 'afflictions'; one night during a thunderstorm, mute Helen feels menaced. Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore. 10.05pm - News, Weather In America, enquiries have begun into the crash of the United Airlines Viscount in Maryland and seven-year-old Carl Connor, who was partially blind and deaf, was reunited with his grandmother after spending a night on Dartmoor. In Perth, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games were opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. 10.15pm - Saturday Sport In the FA Cup there were no shocks, with Hinckley scoring two goals against Queen's Park Rangers' seven. 10.50pm - That Was The Week That Was New topical satire programme presented by David Frost - with Kenneth Cope, David Kernan, Roy Kinnear, Millicent Martin, Lance Percival, and Willie Rushton.

The BBC faced competition for viewers from its commercial rival, ITV, which had been launched under the auspices of the now-defunct Independent Television Authority (created by The Television Act of 1954) to break the corporation's TV monopoly.

The first ITV station to launch was Associated-Rediffusion on 22nd September 1955, serving the London area. By 14th September 1962, with the start of WWN (the transmission name of Teledu Cymru for Wales West and North), the UK and Channel Islands were covered by the regional ITV network, with separate franchises for weekdays and weekends.

Each service sought to reflect its regional identity by having its own programmes in opt-out slots, as well as what it thought viewers would like to see from programmes made outside the region (eg, on Friday 23rd November between 5.25pm and 5.55pm, viewers in the Southern and Associated-Rediffusion areas were watching the antics of Yogi Bear while their counterparts in the Midlands were enjoying the exploits of Supercar on ATV, those in south Wales and the west of England were being entertained on TWW by The Adventures of Robin Hood (co-starring John Arnatt), people in the Anglia region had Mr Ed, Granada was showing The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten, while Westward was airing National Velvet, etc), so to give a full picture of what was being aired when on ITV across the network on each day would result in a list far too long and - at times - irrelevant for the purposes of this feature.

Instead, here, as far as research allows, is what would have been seen by viewers tuning into their ITV channel on both days:

ITV: FRIDAY 23rd November 1962 12.45pm - 2.35pm: Very few ITV stations broadcasting, but ATV had Thought For The Day at 12.45pm, followed by Lunch Box between 12.47pm and 1.25pm, while Anglia began at 1.35pm by covering the Central Norfolk by-election, and both Granada and TWW started schools broadcasting at 1pm 2.35pm - 3.41pm: For Schools 4.45pm - Small Time (Willum's Tea Party) Some ITV stations only 5pm - Street of Adventure, presented by Hugh Moran 5.25pm - Opt-outs (see above) 5.55pm - News 6.05pm - Regional News 6.10pm - 7pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, Day By Day, Out Of Town, Close-Up, Top O' The Shop, Midland Profile, Arena, People And Places, The Jim Backus Show, and Westward Diary) 7pm - Take Your Pick, presented by Michael Miles 7.30pm - Emergency Ward 10 8pm - 9pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster, starring Marty Ingles and John Astin, Bonanza, The Dave King Show, Comedy Hour, and Police Five) 9pm - News 9.15pm - Television Playhouse: The Road To Anywhere, with Sam Kydd and Betty Baskcomb 10.15pm - midnight: Opt-outs (including, at different times, The Verdict Is Yours: Regina vs Hoskins, The Sword In The Web - The Munition Factory, Adventures In Paradise, Now You're Talking, White Hunter, Tightrope, and The Unsleeping Sword) Some stations had closed before midnight after the weather forecast or the epilogue, but shortly after midnight, following the weather forecast on Southern, the ITV network had closed down for the day.

ITV: SATURDAY 24th November 1962 1.15pm - News 1.20pm - 5pm: Sport and results 5pm - 5.15pm: Opt-outs (including It's A Model World, introduced by Charles Oates, Bugs Bunny, The Wizard of Oz, and Meet Foo Foo) 5.15pm - City Beneath The Sea (Episode 2 - Escape To Aegiria) 5.45pm - News 5.50pm - Thank Your Lucky Stars, introduced by Brian Matthew (except Anglia, which had the weather followed by The Flintstones and Popeye) 6.30pm - 8.25pm: Opt-outs (including Cheyenne, Bonanza, Man of the World, and Surfside) 8.25pm - Bruce's Show, hosted by Bruce Forsyth, starring Frank Ifield and Bill Howes 9pm - News 9.10pm - 10.05pm: Opt-outs (including 87th Precinct, Ben Casey, and Hawaiian Eye) 10.05pm - The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee in The Sell-Out, with Frank Gatliff and Arthur Hewlett. (The series had been created by Sydney Newman.) 11pm - 11.50pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, On The Braden Beat, ABC At Large, Broadway Goes Latin, Hennesey, and The Sword In The Web) 11.50pm: News and, on most stations, weather (all but TWW, which showed The Sword In The Web at 11.05pm, followed by the weather) 11.55pm - Epilogue (only some stations; weather forecast on Southern; Faith For Life on Westward)

On Saturday 24th November 1962, The Times ran a feature in its Notes On Broadcasting section, headlined Viewers Begin To Make Themselves Felt, in which its "Special Correspondent" said that "by general consent" the current season's television had "been one of the most disastrous in terms of quality since the Independent Television Authority came into operation."

Reference was made to The Pilkington Committee report on broadcasting, published in June 1962 at a cost of £45,450. Among a number of things, the inquiry had criticised ITV's "triviality" and backed T S Eliot's evidence statement to the committee that "Those who aim to give the public what the public wants begin by underestimating the public taste; they end by debauching it".

The author of the feature bemoaned the fact that "after the summer doldrums, the unveiling of the autumn schedule with a blare of publicity trumpets brought only weaker and worse." They noted that the best of the American shows had been replaced by "feeble American derivatives or even feebler British substitutes", citing 87th Precinct, which took over from Naked City on ITV, as an example. Withering criticism was also levelled at The Saint and Ghost Squad, both of which were labelled "ineffectual".

On the positive side, it was noted that viewers' response had been so bad that the ITV companies were being forced to rethink things, an example being Associated-Rediffusion's sitcom It's A Living, starring Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss, being deemed so bad it was unceremoniously dumped after four episodes when it should have enjoyed a 13-week run. There was also reportedly such a negative reaction to ATV's Ghost Squad "that it suddenly disappeared for a week or two and re-emerged with some bland recasting . . . and a much livelier approach to scripting and direction."

Similarly, the Granada sitcom Bulldog Breed (starring Peter Butterworth and Geoffrey Palmer) disappeared from the schedules after six weeks, one week before it was supposed to end, while another Granada series, The Verdict Is Yours, which dramatised real trials, had started with a Monday evening peak-time slot but got ignominiously bumped by Rawhide to post-10pm on Fridays.

However, the BBC wasn't "in any position to congratulate itself", said the writer, noting that the corporation was relying on "tried and true favourites" for major audience pulling power but that these were starting to become "increasingly faded and routine", with Z-Cars and Maigret both being singled out as guilty parties.

What this all meant, believed the writer, was not necessarily that bad TV was driving out good but that TV companies were beginning to adopt "a far less cavalier attitude to viewers' wishes" than had previously been the case, since in the past unpopular programmes had been allowed to "limp along" and stay the course but now "programmes which have gone are precisely those which the higher-browed critics would agree were not worth preserving."

Epilogue: the television of today

The two-channel television viewers of 1962 would be overwhelmed at the multitude of ways to watch a multitude of programmes across a multitude of channels that exist half a century later; but, perhaps, they would be less surprised at the mix of shows that are still broadcast on the main two channels from their time: 1962 had Doctor Kildare, 2012 has Casualty, likewise Dixon of Dock Green/Midsomer Murders, That Was The Week That Was/Have I Got News For You, and - well into his fifth decade on television - all-round performer Bruce Forsyth still occupies a prime-time Saturday evening slot! (Two other long-lived shows of note are Coronation Street which commenced in 1960, and The Sky At Night which launched in 1957 and is still presented by Sir Patrick Moore.)

BBC1: FRIDAY 23rd November 2012 6.00am - Breakfast 9.15am - Neighbourhood Blues 10.00am - Homes Under The Hammer 11.00am - Watchdog Daily 11.45am - Cash in the Attic 12.15pm - Bargain Hunt 1.00pm - BBC News 1.30pm - Regional News programmes 1.45pm - Doctors 2.15pm - Escape to the Country 3.00pm - BBC News 3.05-5:15pm CBBC 5.15pm - Pointless 6.00pm - BBC News 6.30pm - Regional News programmes 7.00pm - The One Show 7.30pm - Nigel Slater's Dish of the Day 8.00pm - EastEnders 8.30pm - Outnumbered 9.00pm - Have I Got News For You 9.30pm - Me and Mrs Jones 10.00pm - BBC News 10.35pm - The Graham Norton Show 11.20pm - The National Lottery Draws 11.30pm - Live at the Apollo Midnight - EastEnders (omnibus)

ITV1: FRIDAY 23rd November 2012 6.00am - Daybreak 8.30am - Lorraine 9.25am - The Jeremy Kyle Show 10.30am - This Morning 12.30pm - Loose Women 1.30pm - ITV News 2.00pm - Crime Stories 3.00pm - Dickinson's Real Deal 4.00pm - Midsomer Murders 5.00pm - The Chase 6.00pm - Regional news programmes 6.30pm - ITV News 7.00pm - Emmerdale 7.30pm - Coronation Street 8.00pm - Island Hospital 8.30pm - Coronation Street 9.00pm - I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here 10.30pm - ITV News 11.10pm - Accepted

BBC1: SATURDAY 24th November 2012 6.00am - Breakfast 10.00am - Saturday Kitchen Live 11.30am - Baking Made Easy Midday - BBC News 12.15pm - Football Focus 1.00pm - Bargain Hunt 2.00pm - Escape to the Country 3.00pm - Formula One Live: Brazilian Grand Prix - Qualifying 5.30pm - BBC News 5.50pm - Pointless Celebrities 6.40pm - Strictly Come Dancing 8.00pm - Merlin 8.45pm - National Lottery Draws 8.55pm - Casualty 9.45pm - Live at the Apollo 10.15pm - BBC News 10.30pm - Match of the Day 11.50pm - The Football League Show

ITV1: SATURDAY 24th November 2012 6.00am-9.25am - CITV 9.25am - News 9.30am - The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 11.15am - Murder, She Wrote 12.20pm - All Star Family Fortunes 1.05pm - ITV News 1.10pm - Holiday Home Sweet Home 3.10pm - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 5.20pm - Regional News programmes 5.30pm - ITV News 5.45pm - The Golden Rules of TV 6.15pm - New You've Been Framed 6.45pm - Take Me Out 8.00pm - The X Factor 9.45pm - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here 10.45pm - ITV News 11.00pm - Paul McCartney - Live Kisses Midnight - The Cube

As reported last week, a few Doctor Who-related items were donated for auction on behalf of Children in Need; all items have now completed off, raising the following for the charity:

• Matt Smith's Hand Cast - £700
• Matt Smith's autograph - £297
• Pudsey Bear signed by David Tennant - £720
• Pudsey Bear signed by John Barrowman - £410

Canadian channel SPACE have confirmed that, like BBC America in the United States, they will be broadcasting the Christmas Special The Snowmen on Christmas Day at 9:00pm ET.


Australian broadcaster ABC announced at the weekend that they would be showing it locally on Boxing Day at 7:30pm; the BBC have yet to confirm time of broadcast in the UK, though in previous years it has been scheduled between 6:00-7:00pm.

Bonhams have now released the catalogue for their next Entertainment Media Auction, which once again contains a number of items related to Doctor Who and its spin-offs. The usual assortment of costumes and props are available to bid upon, which also includes costumes worn by John Barrowman and Elisabeth Sladen in their respective roles as Jack and Sarah. Other highlights include a TARDIS phone panel, SV7's costume from The Robots of Death, original paperwork from Planet of the Spiders, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks, and Sarah's car from The Sarah Jane Adventures.


The auction takes place at the Knightsbridge auction room on 12th December 2012.

Full list of auction items related to Doctor Who and its spin-offs:

Lot	Description	Estimate (£)
118	Daleks Invasion 2150AD poster	500-700
143	Planet of the Spiders original scripts	1200-1500
144	SV7 costume from The Robots of Death	2000-3000
145	Revelation of the Daleks autographed scripts for episodes 1,2	500-600
146	Remembrance of the Daleks autographed OB Schedule	250-300
147	Police Box panel	400-500
148	Foam shark model from A Christmas Carol	1000-1500
150	TW: scale corpse model from Countrycide	200-300
151	TW: Captain Jack Harkness coat	700-900
152	TW: Jack's safe door	500-700
153	TW: Jack's bedroom hatch door	300-400
154	TW: Martha Jones costume from Reset	300-500
155	TW: Gwen Cooper costume from Meat	500-700
156	SJA: Sarah's costume from Invasion of the Bane	500-600
157	SJA: two "Slab" costumes from Warriors of Kudlak	250-300
158	SJA: Eve's costume from The Mad Woman in the Attic	200-250
159	SJA: Androvax costume from Prisoner of the Judoon and The Vault of Secrets	300-400
160	SJA: Clyde Langer costumes (15)	350-400
161	SJA: Shansheeth costume from Death of the Doctor	250-300
162	SJA: two Mister Dread costumes from The Vault of Secrets	250-300
163	SJA: Sarah's car (1991 Nissan Figaro two-door Targa Coupe)	4000-6000

The Great Detective, the prequel to the Doctor Who Christmas Episode, shown as part of the BBC's Children in Need programme, was watched by 6.3 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

The trail for the upcoming episode, The Snowmen, which aired an hour later, was watched by 8.6 million viewers, out-rating Coronation Street on ITV1.

BBC Worldwide Sales and Distribution Latin America have announced that the sixth series of Doctor Who will be broadcast in the region via the exclusive DIRECTV Latin America channel OnDIRECTV.

Willard Tressel, OnDIRECTV's General Manager, said:

Helen Jurado, VP, Sales & Distribution, BBC Worldwide Latin America, said: