The first part of the BBC Four adaptation of Room At The Top starring Jenna-Louise Coleman has been given a confirmed broadcast date of Wednesday 26th September.

The two-part drama was made nearly two years ago by Great Meadow Productions and should have been shown in April 2011 but had to be shelved until a copyright dispute between the estate of the late author, John Braine, and Remus Films could be settled. It will air from 9pm to 10pm.

Coleman plays the role of Susan Brown and Kevin McNally that of her father, and a number of pictures of Coleman in the production have been released:



The second and concluding part is currently unplaced in the schedules for the week beginning 29th September.

Yesterday's premiere of Asylum of the Daleks in New Zealand was watched by 171,690 viewers on Prime, making it the highest-rated programme on the channel for the day and the second highest rated episode for the Eleventh Doctor so far - The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe achieved 175,970 viewers on 19th January.

The premiere of Let's Kill Hitler, broadcast around this time on 15th September, achieved 117,100 viewers.


For other channels on the night, Embarrassing Bodies on TV2 won the time-slot with 380,860 viewers; 307,170 watched The X Factor USA (started at 7:30-9:30pm average), 224,900 watched TV One's Four Weddings, 74,770 watched Family Guy on Four (9:00pm start), 64,450 watched the ITM Cup Rugby on Sky Sport 1 (7:35-9:15pm average), 38,600 watched Code on Maori TV, 34,410 watched Law and Order Criminal Intent on The Box, and Tower Heist on Sky Movies 1 was watched by 21,250. Top show of the day was One News on TV One, with 678,810 tuning in.

The BBC have published details for the finale of this batch of Doctor Who episodes, The Angels Take Manhattan, which is due to be broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom on Saturday 29th September. The time of the episode is yet to be confirmed, and will be finalised next week.

The BBC have now confirmed that the fourth episode of the current series of Doctor Who, The Power of Three, will be broadcast on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Saturday 22nd September. As in previous weeks, the episode will face competition on ITV1 from Red or Black? and The X Factor; on the other main channels, BBC2 continues its run of Dad's Army, Channel 4 launch a new dating game show called Baggage, whilst Channel 5 travels to the wild west in the film Maverick.

Three images have been released to promote the episode, which also features guest star Jemma Redgrave who plays the role of Kate Stewart. A variety of additional new images will be revealed next week.

This week's Doctor Who Adventures magazine comes with either a squirty bow tie or a build-your-own TARDIS kit.
Issue 286 of Doctor Who Adventures is out in the UK from 13 September.

A new composition has been unveiled today to commemorate the BBC's historic Bush House, which ceased broadcasting in July. It was composed by Matthew Herbert, who has been appointed the creative director of the New Radiophonic Workshop, the successor to the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop that itself closed some fourteen years ago.

The piece was commissioned as the former World Service headquarters sees much of its old equipment being sold off in auction over the coming week; talking about the closure and its relevance to the Radiophonic Workshop, Herbert said:
The piece can be listened to via the right button, or on THE SPACE website.


The New Radiophonic Workshop was formed this year as part of an initiative undertaken by THE SPACE, an experimental digital Arts portal managed by Arts Council England and developed in partnership with the BBC. The workshop's first commission was The Sound of The Space, a compilation that brings together some twenty-five themes from across the portal, and can be listened to via their website.

An accomplished musician and contributor to fellow artists' projects and films, Matthew Herbert has also been credited with pioneering the use of 'found' sound in modern electronic music, that is, the integration of naturally occurring sound within compositions.

Joining him in the new Workshop initiative are music/sound designer Yann Seznec, composer Max de Wardener, broadcast technologist Tony Churnside, musician Mica Levi, theatre director Lyndsey Turner, and creative technologist Patrick Bergel.

Unlike the original workshop, which was based in Maida Vale, the new one is described as "a virtual institution, an online portal and forum for discussion around the challenges of creating new sounds, and bringing together music composition and software design."

Speaking of the resurrection of a pioneering institution, Herbert said:

BBC Radiophonic Workshop

The inspiration of "radiophonic" aware BBC producers such as Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram, the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop was founded in 1958, headed by Briscoe with technical assistant Dick Mills. The Workshop was at the cutting edge of electronic sound and music development, and attracted the talents of composers including Delia Derbyshire (who realised the original Doctor Who theme tune) and Brian Hodgson (who created many of the special sounds heard in the early years of the show).

THE SPACE have provided a short video interview with the Radiophonic Workshop team, which originates from a Tomorrow's World from 1965.

Doctor Who returns as a specialist subject for the long-running knowledge quiz show Mastermind this coming Friday (8:00pm, BBC2). The questions will be based around the show between 1963 and 1989, while the topics for the other contestants are the geography and history of Arkansas from 1836, football manager Terry Venables, and the story of Moses in the King James Bible.

The show has featured as a specialist subject a number of times in the past, such as in 2004, and notably when the Telegraph's resident Doctor Who reviewer Gavin Fuller became champion during Doctor Who's 30th Anniversary in 1993.

There was also a special Doctor Who-themed version of Mastermind on 19th March 2005 as part of BBC2's Doctor Who Night the weekend before Rose was to herald the triumphant return of the show on television. The questions were set by John Leeson and the winner, Karen Davies, received the trophy from the Doctor himself, Christopher Eccleston. The actor also appeared on Junior Mastermind nearly a year later, where he was interviewed by the young contestant Sam who had chosen Doctor Who's premiere year as his specialist subject on 26th February 2006.

In addition, David Tennant had Doctor Who as his specialist subject on a celebrity edition of Mastermind for Comic Relief on 13th March 2009.

Meanwhile, back in 1988 the New Zealand version of Mastermind featured Doctor Who as the specialist subject from long-term fan Jon Preddle - you can read more about his 'adventure' on the show via the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club.

Doctor Who scooped the Best Family Drama title last night for the third year in a row at the TV Choice Awards.

Series Six saw off stiff competition from Merlin, Glee, and Waterloo Road to take the prize, with showrunner Steven Moffat accepting the honour at the ceremony, which was held at The Dorchester in London.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, who had been nominated in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, lost out to, respectively, Benedict Cumberbatch (for Sherlock) and Miranda Hart. Gillan was named Best Actress last year but it was a successive disappointment for Smith, who in 2011 was beaten in the Best Actor category by David Tennant for Single Father.

Sherlock, created by Moffat and Mark Gatiss, was named Best Drama Series at last night's awards.

Big Finish have released the covers for some of the forthcoming stories due towards the end of the year.

November sees the release of a sequel, as producer David Richardson comments:

December's regular adventure stars Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, 1001 Nights will comprise four one-episode stories with a linking theme. Guest stars include Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Nadim Sawalha (Syriana) and Malcolm Tierney (Terror of the Vervoids).

Subscribers to the regular range that includes 1001 Nights will be eligible for this year's free adventure, Night of the Stormcrow, which stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela. David says:
The story will be released commercially in December 2013.

Canadian broadcaster SPACE has reported another ratings success with its broadcast of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship last Saturday.


Canadian viewers can catch up on Doctor Who at SPACEcast.com.