According to UK tabloid the Sun, former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper is scheduled to appear on BBC2's Top Gear programme next week as the latest celebrity to show off their driving skills in the show's Star In a Reasonably Priced Car slot.

Piper will complete a timed lap, driving a Chevrolet Lacetti around the show's test track, aiming to beat the times set by previous celebrities - including Christopher Eccleston - and get to the top of the leader board.

Following from the promotional campaign we have been reporting on this week,Billie Piper has returned to the Top 40 charts with a re-entry for her 1999 hit "Honey to the Bee", which has entered the charts this week at number 17.

Radio 1 breakfast presenter Chris Moyles announced to his listeners on Monday 15th that he was planning to conduct a test to see if he could exploit a change in the way the charts are counted, where downloads are included alongside singles.

He played Billie's 1999 hit Honey to the Bee, which charted as high as number 3 first time round, to see if hearing the old hit would encourage people to download it and get it into the charts. Expect a very happy Mr Moyles on Radio 1 tomorrow morning; Billie is also likely to be pleasantly surprised; the hit has returned without her singing a note!

Billie's success is also reported by BBC News.

The other track with a Doctor Who association which received a promotional campaign this week, the song "Love Don't Roam" from the Doctor Who Soundtrack album, has failed to chart. However, it did receive its first radio play on Saturday's Jonathan Ross show on Radio 2. Will it receive further coverage and chart in weeks to come? Time will tell.

Billie Piper could make a big impact return to the top 40 charts on Sunday, and all without singing a note.

Radio 1 breakfast presenter Chris Moyles announced to his listeners on Monday that he was planning to conduct a test to see if he could exploit a change in the way the charts are counted, where downloads are included alongside singles.

He played Billie's 1999 hit Honey to the Bee, which charted at number 3, to see if hearing the old hit would encourage people to download it and get it into the charts.

And download sales have already picked up with the song making it into the Top 75 midweek chart and today climbing into the iTunes Top 20.

This high profile marketing has somewhat eclipsed the similar promotional campaign we reported on last week. That campaign, started in our forums and echoed on many Dr Who sites since, is promoting downloads of the song Love Don't Roam, from the Dr Who Soundtrack album. Undeterred, and with all the enthusiasm of fandom, that purchasing drive continues all this week.

Actress Billie Piper appeared on Breakfast on BBC1 this morning to promote her west-end debut in the Christopher Hampton play Treats. Also featuring Kris Marshall (My Family, Murder City) and Laurence Fox(Lewis), the play opens at London's Garrick Theatre on 28th February (previews from the 20th) and runs until 26th May.

The play is also on tour beforehand, appearing at the Theatre Royal in Windsor (16-27 Jan), Malvern Theatre (29 Jan - 3 Feb), Bath's Theatre Royal (5-10 Feb), and London's Richmond Theatre (12-17 Feb).

More details on the play may be found at theatre.com and the London Theatre Guide.

The Sun today continued its in-depth interview with Billie Piper, as featured yesterday.

Piper said that leaving Doctor Who still made her cry but added that she felt it was time to leave lest she got "complacent".

She was quoted as saying: "It was such a hard decision. I still cry about it, I'm such a cry baby.

"I don't know if I'll be able to watch the next series. I'll probably have to sit behind the couch with a cushion over my eyes.

"I just thought it was time to do something new - not because I felt tired, the material was crap or the people were nasty - but just because I felt like doing something else.

"I'd spent nine months filming in Cardiff and that's a long time to be away from your family and friends. I'm a real London girl, I absolutely love it. I found it increasingly hard to be away. I felt like if I'd stayed there any longer I would have become a bit complacent. And, suddenly, you've been doing it for five years and you're too scared to leave."

She said how hard it had been to tell Russell T Davies of her decision, but added that although they were both upset he had supported her completely.

"But life has to move on and there are great things happening in British TV. I just hope I don't regret leaving!"

Discussing David Tennant, Piper calls him "a lovely guy, super-duper down to earth, super-duper smart", and adds: "I think David will be the Doctor for a while, he really loves the show."

Also in The Sun Catherine Tate said she was disappointed she wasn't asked to continue as the Doctor's companion after appearing in the Christmas special.

She was quoted as saying: "They didn't ask me and I tend not to dwell on my failures.

"It was just such a fantastic job to get. It was like making an action movie. It was great but they didn't ask me."

David Tennant is quoted as saying: "An unconventional pairing but we'd have made a great team. I'm very disappointed."

The Sun has revived the story doing the rounds a while ago that Christopher Eccleston is tipped for the lead role in a remake of 1960s cult TV show The Prisoner.

The article says filming on the joint Sky One/Granada TV/AMC production will begin in the spring, with the programme showing worldwide in January 2008.

There is no comment from Eccleston or his agent, Lorraine Hamilton, in the piece to either confirm or deny his involvement.

To the side of the online article are links to "related stories", including a slideshow from The Runaway Bride.

Also in The Sun is a lengthy interview with Billie Piper in which the actress talks about anorexia, therapy, life as a pop princess and the impact of Doctor Who on her marriage to Chris Evans.

In addition, it refers to her split this week from boyfriend and law student Amadu Sowe, repeating her statement: "I've always tried to shield Amadu from the showbusiness world and public glare that I've learnt to live with over the years.

"I'm afraid that means I'm just not comfortable talking about our relationship or the finer points of it."

The feature finishes by referring to her forthcoming roles in The Ruby In The Smoke and Mansfield Park, with a closing quote from Piper: "I feel a bit more in control of my life than I ever have done - that's a great feeling, I’m really happy about it."

Tom Baker is Everywhere

There's more coverage of Tom Baker's return as the voice of British Telecom's text-to-voice service, and the novelty single in which Baker "sings" "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, at The Mirror, The Scotsman and Metro.

Baker is also providing his voice to Little Britain the Video Game, which is covered at PSP World, Pro-G,WorthPlaying.com and Games Asylum.

People

Catherine Tate is profiled in The Sunday Times, in advance of her appearance in The Runaway Bride on Christmas Day.

An interview with Sophia Myles in The Independent mentions her relationship with David Tennant, and the Tenth Doctor action figure she keeps in her purse when the two are separated: "I'm pretty excited about the fact that my boyfriend has an action doll. How cool is that? Now, all I'm waiting for is for the Doctor Who people to make a Madame de Pompadour doll so I can do a bit of Barbie and Ken action with them ... You know what I'm talking about." Myles is appearing in Dracula on BBC One opposite Love and Monsters' Marc Warren.

Paul Cornell mentions on his blog that he'll be watching his next Doctor Who story being filmed this Thursday.

The Observer asks Torchwood's Naoko Mori what she would save if her house was burning down. (The answer: Kermit the Frog and family photos.)

John Barrowman is supporting the canine charity Dogs Trust in their campaign against giving dogs or puppies as presents. Barrowman made an appearance at Dogs Trust West London Rehoming Centre as part of the campaign, titled "A Dog is for Life, Not Just for Christmas." Covered at the Dogs Trust website and (appropriately enough) at K9 Magazine. (Who knew the tin dog had his own magazine?)

And it seems that Victoria Beckham (who famously bought her husband Doctor Who: The Complete Shooting Scriptsfor Christmas last year) may be buying Billie Piper's old house in Los Angeles. The story, with mention of Piper, is popping up everywhere from Canada to India to New Zealand.

Miscellaneous mentions

The UK Sunday Express newspaper has printed praise for both Doctor Who and Torchwood as part of a front-page article claiming that "Ten million families have switched off their TVs because of the diet of sex and violence." The piece, by journalist David Stephenson, carries a quote from a spokeswoman for Tessa Jowell, the UK government's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which praises Torchwood as being at the head of digital television programming, along with the sketch show Little Britain and US import Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Increasingly programmes on digital channels are giving those on their terrestrial neighbours a run for their money," the spokeswoman said. Praise for Doctor Who itself comes in a quote from BBC Director of Vision Jana Bennett, responding to comments from the actor David Jason that it was one of the few programmes he was happy for his daughter to watch. "We’re delighted that David Jason appreciates Doctor Who and Robin Hood," the American executive said, "because we created them as programmes we hoped the whole family would enjoy, along with others like Planet Earth, Strictly Come Dancing and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?"

Scotland on Sunday has a review of the bestselling Doctor Who Annual 2007.

Jed Mercurio, writer of the medical drama Bodies, complained to The Times about the current vogue for family drama, or, as he described it, "juvenilia, things that are really children’s drama dressed up a bit for an adult audience."Bodies lost to Doctor Who at the BAFTAs this year, and Mercurio seems to be referring to Doctor Who in his commentary. He concludes, "If I give it a year people will have seen how boring it is to have endless Doctor Who spin-offs. Then, hopefully, people will go ‘we’ve made idiots of ourselves, let’s make something good again'." The Stage responds to Mercurio, calling him "bitter" and mentions in passing, "While I have my own feelings about Torchwood (i.e., it isn't very good), from the clips disc that just landed on my desk of the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures, I'm personally glad that somebody's making a bit of exciting drama for a bona fide children’s audience."

Also at The Stage, ITV's Controller of Drama mentions David Tennant and Billie Piper as examples of the type of "new talent" ITV hopes to show more of in the future: "Look at Billie Piper and David Tennant - even though they have worked before - the viewers feel like they have been in on their transition to mainstream television. They feel like they have been involved in the process and that’s what we are trying to do with more of our drama and new talent."

(Additional material by Kenny Davidson and Paul Hayes; thanks to "Russwhover" of the YaWho discussion group.)

The Daily Mail has run an article about star autobiographies that do not sell well. Billie Piper's book 'Growing Pains' is mentioned. The article does not go into details on her book sales, but a quick look atamazon.co.uk list it as 283 in Books. Amazon's synopsis of the book includes the following passage:'Billie Piper has won over the critics and the British public for a second time by re-inventing herself as an actress in BBC productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Canterbury Tales and, of course, Doctor Who . So how did she get from there to here? This is the funny, honest and insightful story of an extraordinary young life.'.

Catherine Tate, speaking to The Daily Record, says that Billie Piper deserves the credit for Doctor Who's success with girls: "I think Billie is a big part of getting young girls on board as well, because they all kind of idolise the Rose character.

"When I was little I liked Doctor Who but I think boys liked it more. But now it's across the board."

Tate will be playing the Doctor's "rebound companion" Donna in The Runaway Bride this Christmas. The article contains some story information about the Christmas special (taken from the BBC Programme Information press release), so don't click if you want to remain completely unspoiled!

Confirming rumors that have been flying around for months, BBC Wales has issued apress release today that Billie Piper will be leaving her role as Rose Tyler at the end of the current series. "Billie Piper who has played Rose Tyler, the feisty young companion of both the ninth and tenth doctors, will leave Doctor Who in a nail biting series two finale. Over the past two years Rose has been on an adventure of a lifetime, travelling across the galaxy with the Doctor. She's visited far-off futuristic cities in the year five billion and beyond; landed on space stations where she's been a contestant in a deadly version of ‘The Weakest Link'; travelled back in time and met Queen Victoria, Charles Dickens, Madame de Pompadour and her dead father; she has battled against the Doctor's deadliest foes the Daleks and Cybermen; taken on Slitheen, Sycorax and Krillitanes and survived the end of the world and the blitz. Now, in what is set to be the TARDIS's most terrifying adventure, The Doctor and Rose will face their biggest challenge to date. Back on Earth the human race rejoices as the ghosts of loved ones return home. But as the Doctor, Rose and Jackie investigate Torchwood Tower, a trap is being sprung; an almighty invasion is being put into motion which is set to destroy the whole of modern-day Earth."

The press release continues: "Billie Piper says: 'Rose and I have gone on the most incredible journey with Russell T Davies and the cast and crew of Doctor Who over the past two years. It has been an amazing adventure, and I can confirm it comes to an end, for now at least, as series two climaxes. I am truly indebted to Russell for giving me the chance to play Rose Tyler, and to all the Doctor Who fans old and new who have been so supportive of me in this amazing role. Thank you so much.' Russell T Davies writer and Executive producer adds: 'It has been a wonderful experience working with Billie -- we will miss her -- and wish her all the success in the world for her future. However, the Doctor Who team have had a whole year to plan this final scene and have created a stunning exit for Rose Tyler. The Doctor lives a dangerous life and when Rose joined him on his adventures she was aware of this. With a series climax called Doomsday on its way, I can't guarantee who will survive and who won't, but I can assure you the TARDIS is going on its scariest journey yet!' Since taking on the role of Rose Tyler, Billie has received both critical and popular acclaim. She was awarded The National Television Award for ‘Most Popular Actress' 2005 and The South Bank Show's ‘Breakthrough Award for Rising British Talent'. Billie is currently filming the BBC's adaptation of multi award-winning writer Philip Pullman's The Ruby In The Smoke in which she plays the title role, Sally Lockhart. Filming on the second novel The Shadow In The North will commence later this summer. Doctor Who series three also starts filming again later this summer and will return to our screens with a Christmas special in 2006 and another series of 13 episodes for 2007."

There have been rumors circulated for nearly a year that Piper would be leaving at some point during the second series;Dreamwatch magazine originally made this statement last summer, though its report was discounted, while various tabloids suggested that Piper's tenure on the series would come to an end this year. Some news outlets are reporting the character might be killed off, although the BBC Wales press release suggests an air of mystery and does notstate that Rose will be killed (taking Piper's comments that her trip "comes to an end" somewhat literally), although the release does ask the question, "Does saving the world mean the death of Rose Tyler?" (noting that "Billie Piper who has played Rose Tyler - the feisty young companion of the ninth and tenth doctors - will leave Doctor Who in a nail-biting series two finale"). The "death" report appears to originate in the Sun's early report today, being merely speculative. However, the production is being very strict about information regarding the finale; in fact, there may be no advance press screening of "Doomsday" to prevent the surprise from being released.

There are rumors elsewhere that this was a recent decision (including speculation on some fan sites that this was a dispute over money) although Outpost Gallifrey has been told that Piper's departure was planned as early as last autumn and that the script for "Doomsday" as originally written did contain the departure for the character (instead of a hasty rewrite that would have been needed if it had been a recent choice). A new co-star for David Tennant will likely be seen in the 2006 Christmas special.

The official Doctor Who website is carrying this story. The first report came from The Sun, and it has been reported today at a variety of sources including BBC News, CBBC News, The Times, Ananova, Manchester Evening News, Daily Mail, The Scotsman, Irish Examiner, Sky Showbiz, The Is London, Evening Echo, Ireland Online, The Stage, Hollywood News, Waveguide, Daily Mail, EntertainmentWise, U.TV,ITV, ITN, RTE,Contact Music, Edinburgh News. Also CBBCNews is asking viewers, "Are you gutted?" with reader responses to be posted soon. (Thanks to all of our readers who have been sending in news clips all day!)