The BBC Press Office have released their showreel highlighting programmes that will be broadcast in their Autumn schedule; pride of place goes to Doctor Who, featuring clips from The Waters of Mars.

A roundup of news for the broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth around the world.

United Kingdom (BBC1, 6th-10th July)
BBC Press Pack

• The Radio Times website has now listed Torchwood as being broadcast from Monday 6th July from 9:00pm, and will be broadcast over consecutive nights.
• The Guardian used Children of Earth's broadcast as the basis for an article on the role of the story-arc in science fiction.
• The Examiner reports on the soundtrack for Children of Earth to be released in the UK on 7th July.
• Press Pack coverage from io9, who also commented on the UK broadcast of Children of Earth ahead of the US broadcast (and spoilers revealed in the BBC Week 27 Information. Other articles on broadcast date from C21Media, Brand Republic, Rapid Talent, SF Crow's Nest, Coventry Telegraph, and Fantasy France.

United States (BBC America, 20th-24th July)

• BBC America have provided an Inside Look video for the series. Details on the series that they produced were covered by Pop Culture Zoo
• SF Universe carry an interview with John Barrowman; they also have an article of
  'fun facts' about Torchwood. Another interview with John Barrowman from the Chicago Tribune, whilst Eve Myles was the subject of Wired.

Canada (SPACE, 20th-24th July)

• Channel Canada report that the SPACE channel will broadcast the five-part series on consecutive days from the 20th July, and will be followed on the Saturday by the Canadian premiere of Planet of the Dead.

Australia (UKTV, BBC HD, 7th-11th July)
Trailer 1 Trailer 2

The BBC Press Office has released details for week 27, and confirms that Torchwood: Children of Earth will be broadcast during that week, 4th-10th July. The show is currently listed as "unplaced", meaning that the exact time and days have yet to be finalised.

The Doctor Who Blog is reporting that Canada's Space channel is now the home of Doctor Who in Canada, officially ending the series' time with former co-production partner the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Space will air Planet of the Dead on Saturday July 25th. Waters of Mars and the two other specials to follow will air on Space in late 2009 and early 2010.

Beginning in March 2010 Space will have the rights to show Series One to Four of the show as well as The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride. Voyage of the Damned, which was never aired by the CBC, will be available to Space as of April 2010. The Next Doctor was already aired by Space in March 2009.

Finally, Space will be airing Series Five in 2010.

Launched in April 2005 with a great deal of publicity by the CBC just 10 days after the premiere on the BBC Doctor Who eventually found itself out of favour with changing CBC management despite continued strong ratings through all four series.

The 'fast-tracked' Planet of the Dead has debuted in Australia to excellent ratings. The Easter special averaged 1,051,000 in the five major capital cities, compared to the 738,000 viewers who watched 'The Next Doctor' in January or the 869,000 who watched the Michael Palin special 'Around the World in 20 Years' the week before at 7.30pm. 'Planet' was the ABC's top rating drama of the day and its second highest rating show after the 7pm news. Meanwhile the ABC has also started promoting Torchwood which will commence on ABC2 with 'Everything Changes' on Friday 19 June 2009 at 8.30pm. The national broadcaster has the rights to the first two series of 'Torchwood' and has also indicated it will screen Children of Earth at some later stage.

Meanwhile, 'Planet' and the impending departure of David Tennant has attracted some local media attention. Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to David Tennant about his thoughts upon leaving the show. The Canberra Times and TV Week also feature interviews with Tennant, the latter with a poll saying that 68% of readers will miss his incarnation of the Doctor. Ruth Ritchie describes 'Planet of the Dead' a 'must see' and Kerrie Murphy of The Weekend Australia writes that while 'the plot...isn't the greatest...it's still a terrific jaunt.' Melinda Houston of The Age comments that 'a dimension-jumping London bus, evil steel stingrays, friendly giant flies and a very dashing new companion - and the kind of witty, warm-hearted writing we've come to expect - make this one-off a real treat.' Troy Lennon of The Daily Telegraph also writes of 'Planet' that it 'is fast-paced, has great effects, the right amount of science to make it almost sound plausible and enough fantasy to excite the imagination.'

Thanks to the contributors to the Australian forums.

BBC America has announced that their new BBC America HD channel will launch in July with the HD broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth and the latest Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead. Torchwood: Children of Earth will air on BBC America HD and BBC America on five consecutive nights, beginning on Monday, July 20. Planet of the Dead will follow on Sunday, July 26. (As previously announced, the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor, will air on BBC America on Saturday, June 27.)

It is not known whether earlier plans for "Children of Earth" to be aired on the same day on BBC America and BBC One are still on track. British television channels traditionally announce their schedules closer to broadcast date than American channels do, so the UK broadcast date for "Children of Earth" will probably not be confirmed for several weeks.

Full details for the launch of BBC America HD, including broadcast times and information about "Being Human" and "Primeval", are available here and here.

In a turnabout from a previous arrangement, BBC America now has first US broadcast rights for the soon-to-be-aired hour-long specials of Doctor Who, Variety reported today.

The Next Doctor, the show's 2008 Christmas episode, will make its US debut at 9:00 p.m. on June 27, followed by Planet of the Dead in July (date TBA). Specific US air dates will be determined for the subsequent specials after they've aired in the UK.

BBC America - which has to bid for British shows just like any other American broadcaster - will continue its first run deal on Torchwood, airing that show's third season in July.

Other science fiction shows debuting on the network this summer include Being Human (starting July 25) and Survivors, starring Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman (date TBA). The third season of ITV's dinosaur time romp Primeval is currently airing on the network.

Current BBC America president Garth Ancier says that's the network should always have had Doctor Who. "If I'd been here [when the original deal was made]," Ancier said, "we wouldn't have sold it, to be quite honest." For the last four years, the Sci Fi Channel has held first rights, with BBC America holding second rights.

ABC Television have scheduled Planet of the Dead for transmission on Sunday 31st May at 7.30pm.

The timeslot was confirmed by Audience and Consumer Affairs in an email to a member of the Doctor Who Forum.

The BBC has confirmed that Planet of the Dead will get three transmissions over the Easter Weekend.

As reported the first showing will be Saturday on BBC One at 6.45pm. This broadcast will be simulcast with the BBC HD channel, which is available free to air on Freesat as well as on Sky and Virgin Media. The programme is sandwiched between the Disney film Finding Nemo and the drama seriesRobin Hood. ITV1 will be showing Primeval from 6.15 - 7.15 clashing with the first half of Doctor Who. The second half is up against New You've Been Framed. On BBC2, Doctor Who faces the natural history series Planet Earth while Channel 4 is showing the News followed by Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant.

Planet of the Dead gets a second showing on the digital channel BBC Three at 7pm on Easter Sunday. For this showing satellite and cable viewers will be able to access a Red Button commentary from David Tennant, Julie Gardner andJames Strong.

The final showing will be on BBC One on Easter Monday at 5pm. This showing will follow the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks and will be up againstTaste the Nation on ITV1. It will be simulcast on the BBC HD channel which is also showing the HD version of Doctor Who at the Proms on Monday afternoon.

Doctor Who Confidential also gets a number of showings over the weekend with a programme exploring behind the scenes as the cast and crew travel to Dubai. First shown on Saturday at 8.30pm on BBC3, the programme is repeated on Sunday at 4.10am and 8pm.

The BBC Press Office has stated that the Doctor Who Easter special, "Planet of the Dead", will air on BBC One on Saturday, April 11 from 6:45 to 7:45 pm. The Saturday date was posted last week on the Press Office's website, and subsequently withdrawn; it has now been reposted. The episode will also be broadcast on the BBC HD channel.

A trailer for the episode is now available on the BBC Website.

According to this month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine the title of the next in the series of specials will be revealed at the end of Planet of the Dead, along with a short trail. The second special, directed by Graeme Harper, features the Doctor plunged into a world of terror. It is expected to air in the autumn.

Update: the trailer broadcast on BBC1 Wednesday evening confirmed that the episode will be broadcast on Saturday, April 11.