Catherine Tate, who co-stars this Christmas in The Runaway Bride, has won Best TV Comedy Actress at the British Comedy Awards tonight. The ceremony, which celebrates notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year, was broadcast live on ITV. Tate's award was specifically for last year's Catherine Tate Christmas Special, which was repeated this evening on BBC2. The story is reported on both Digital Spy and BBC News, with reaction in our forums.

The BBC's Official Site is running an advent calendar on the run up to The Runaway Bride, and today's date (12th) reveals the first trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Today's edition of the Sun says that Catherine Tate was left breathless as Runaway Bride Donna in action scenes for the forthcoming Christmas Day special, The Runaway Bride.

"There was lots of running for the runaway bride. David Tennant ran like a whippet and I was lagging behind," says the actress and comedienne in a short piece in the newspaper's TV biz section.

Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures spoilers
The latest edition of Digital Spy's "Tube Talk" column by Neil Wilkes contains small previews of both the last few episodes of Torchwood and the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures special. Of the latter, Wilkes says that "Although this series has been billed as appealing to a kiddie audience, it will almost definitely please classic Who fans as it could just as easily play out as an episode from the regular series." Scroll down to the bottom of the page and highlight the hidden text for the full previews.

The Runaway Bride photos
The CBBC Newsround website, always a strong supporter of Doctor Who, has put up a page of preview images from the forthcoming Christmas special. No plot spoilers are revealed in the ten images, although the settings of some scenes are shown.

General press clippings
The Mirror featured the return of Doctor Who in a list of the "Top 10 Comebacks" in its December 6th edition, and on Friday gave coverage to the story about the Doctor and Martha's alleged activities in the new series reported elsewhere earlier in the week. Some very minor spoilers.

The Sun reports on the story also covered elsewhere earlier in the week of the home-made Dalek built to deter rowdy students, and also reports on Jessica Stevenson's casting in the new series. Of Stevenson they say that: "She will soon start filming two episodes of the third series of the BBC1 drama. An insider said: 'The role will play to her comedy strengths.'"

Ananova also covers the home-made Dalek story.

icWales is carrying a Q and A with John Barrowman, promoting his forthcoming pantomime run in Cardiff. Asked what character he would ideally like to play, he replies that: "I don't know. I don't think people are ready for me to play the bad guy what with Torchwood and Dr Who, so I'd like to still play the good guys. I don't really like playing the same characters though, so we will see."

The Yorkshire Post has a story about people in their 30s who are turning their back on the conventional "grown-up" behaviour in favour of playing games, collecting toys, and, yes, watching Doctor Who. The article terms this group "New Regressives". Ian Wheeler of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society is interviewed.

Unusually far-flung coverage for Doctor Who this week, as The Times of India mentions the programme in an article by Mukul Sharma about nanotechnology with the comment: "In the British science fiction TV series Dr Who, the protagonist known as the Seventh Doctor invokes Arthur C Clarke's famous law in reverse by saying that any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology. Then he justifies the possibility of how a spaceship can also be grown, as opposed to being built."

(Additional reporting by Kenny Davidson and Josiah Rowe).

The traditional Christmas double issue of the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine has begun to become available in the UK, with full availability across all regions due by Tuesday the 12th. As expected, the magazine devotes extensive coverage to the Doctor Who-related programming available across the BBC over the Christmas period, as well as containing the first part of their free Doctor Who audiobook CD giveaway.

The Runaway Bride special itself, scheduled for Christmas Day at 7pm on BBC One, is previewed in a two-and-a-half page feature, which includes an image of the 3D effects model of the Empress of Racnoss, viewed in profile. Interviewed for the feature, David Tennant names a new villain for the forthcoming third series of the show - the Carrionites.

The "Today's Choices" page for December the 25th features the familiar publicity image of Tennant holding out the sonic screwdriver as Catherine Tate as Donna displays her wedding ring, accompanied by some Robot Santas. The listings page for the evening's viewing on BBC One is topped by a picture of Tate from the special.

The magazine's listings also confirm the main opposition that The Runaway Bride will face in its 7pm timeslot - a repeat of the Queen's Christmas message followed by a repeat of the sitcom Porridge on BBC Two; a special edition of the soap opera Emmerdale on ITV1; the game show Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 and a Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Five.

The free Feast of the Drowned audiobook CD is affixed to a double-page advertising feature for the release, as well as being trailed with a strapline across the bottom of the magazine's front cover. The Radio Times will be giving away the second part of the story, followed by another Doctor Who audio, in the three issues following the Christmas special.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is highlighted by a brief interview with Elisabeth Sladen, promoting the production. There are also small preview paragraphs for the concluding three episodes of Torchwood on BBC Three.

In radio, the Radio 1 three-hour special presented by Jo Whiley receives only a simple listing on the December 25th radio page. However, the BBC7 audio adventure Blood of the Daleks is promoted with a special illustration in the digital radio listings. The preview for Blood of the Daleks also makes a surprising revelation about the new Eighth Doctor radio series, detailed in the spoiler section at the bottom of this report. [UPDATE: John Ainsworth from Big Finish, who are producing the audio serial, has denied the spoiler from the Radio Times, suggesting that the guiding description of 'set prior to his regeneration' has been taken too literally by someone at the magazine.]

The magazine also highlights the contributions of various Doctor Who alumni to the Christmas schedule. Following theRunaway Bride preview feature is a one-and-a-half page preview of the Billie Piper-starring Philip Pullman adaptationThe Ruby in the Smoke, and a picture of Piper in Victorian dress appears on the "Today's Choices" page for Wednesday the 27th of December. Also on that page, a small picture of Piper and Christopher Eccleston accompanies a box-out mentioning the number of Doctor Who actors featuring across the schedules this Christmas.

Eccleston himself stars in Joe Ahearne's Perfect Parents on ITV1, alongside former Big Finish "Unbound" Doctor David Warner and Warner's Big Finish Sapphire and Steel co-star (and Paul McGann's partner) Susannah Harker.

The Girl in the Fireplace actress Sophia Myles is pictured to promote Dracula, in which she co-stars with Love and Monsters guest star Marc Warren, in the listings for December the 28th.

(Many thanks to David Ryan and Eddie Robson).

The preview for Blood of the Daleks runs:

"In the first of eight new dramas, taking Paul McGann's one-time TV-movie Doctor up to the point where he regenerates into Christopher Eccleston, McGann is struggling not only to reawaken human memories of why Daleks should never be trusted but also has to deal with a mouthy new assistant (played by Sheridan Smith) mysteriously imposed on him by his fellow Time Lords."

Please note that this spoiler has been denied subsequently by Big Finish, who are producing the serial for the BBC.

Christmas News

The official Doctor Who site has some excerpts from a Radio Times story about Catherine Tate and her upcomingDoctor Who appearance in The Runaway Bride.

Coverage of the BBC's Christmas schedule at icWales includes mentions of The Runaway Bride and the adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke starring Billie Piper. These programmes and the debut of The Sarah Jane Adventures are also mentioned in another icWales story focusing on critic Garry Bushell's dissatisfaction with the Christmas schedule. (Apparently family science fiction isn't enough for Bushell -- he wants a family comedy.)

And, still at icWales, there's another story about the strong sales of the Doctor Who Annual and the Doctor Who 3D Model Making Kit.

POST SCRIPT: Yet another icWales story mentions the surprise visit by a Dalek to the Cardiff Lord Mayor's Children's Christmas Party. Of course, the Dalek wasn't the first alien in the Cardiff Lord Mayor's office...

Series Three News

One scene in the 2007 series of Doctor Who will show the Doctor and his new assistant Martha Jones in bed together -- flirtatious but fully clothed. The scene appears in a preview seen by members of the press and covered by The Daily Mail, Monsters and Critics and UPI.

The Sun and Digital Spy cover the news that Jessica Stevenson will appear in Series Three.

People

The official Doctor Who website, CBBC Newsround, The Daily Mirror and Digital Spy discuss David Tennantwinning Doctor Who Magazine's "favourite Doctor" poll.

Tennant also made New Musical Express's 2006 "If Only They Rocked" list of the "most rock 'n' roll" people not currently performing in rock bands. Tennant was #3 on the list, after Andy Nicholson (former guitarist for the Arctic Monkeys) and Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány -- which explains why the story is covered by Hungarian underground newspaper Pestiside.hu.

Billie Piper will appear in the Christopher Hampton play Treats, touring in Windsor, Malvern, Bath and Richmond before a planned March transfer to the West End; it's mentioned at Whatsonstage.com and the Evening Standard.

On December 18, John Barrowman will be singing Christmas songs and musical theatre hits at Queen Elizabeth Hall, alongside the Crouch End Festival Chorus and the BBC Concert Orchestra; so reveals the Hornsey and Crouch End Journal and the Crouch End Festival Chorus's website.

The Daily Record, apparently confusing actor with character, upbraids Barrowman for Captain Jack's joke about British teeth in a recent episode of Torchwood.

Broadcasting
The BBC is developing a new Merlin series, which will air in the same 7:00 Saturday slot as Doctor Who and Robin Hood; BBC One chief Peter Fincham confirmed to The Stage that Merlin will not replace Doctor Who or Robin Hood, but join them in seasonal rotation. The story is also covered at Variety.

Digital Spy has a few small spoilers for upcoming episodes of Torchwood and a quote from the debut of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Miscellaneous

The Daily Mirror includes Doctor Who in a list of great comebacks.

The Sun has picked up the story of fan Andrew Simpson's homemade Dalek threatening noisy students, previously mentioned in other sources.

The Hampstead and Highgate Express mentions The Very Best of The Navy Lark, starring Jon Pertwee, as one of its top audio picks this Christmas.

And finally, Metro's "Cool Video of the Day" is a demonstration of the scientific phenomenon of standing waves, which produces images similar to the old-school Doctor Who titles. (Metro's reporter says, "I keep expecting Jon Pertwee's head to come flying out at me from the centre of it," but hard-core geeks like this reporter will note that it's closer to the William Hartnell titles.)

(Additional material by Kenny Davidson; thanks to "Superted" of the Outpost Gallifrey forums.)

Doctor Who's Christmas special, The Runaway Bride, is scheduled to feature on BBC One's The Sign Zone in the early hours of 30 December. Running from 1.50am (yes, 1.50 in the MORNING!), the episode will be repeated with in-vision British Sign Language translations for the Deaf appearing in one corner. It's believed this is the first time Doctor Who has been broadcast in this way, following in the footsteps of other dramas such as Life on Mars and documentaries like The Blue Planet. No news as to whether this is something that will be carried over to the third series when it begins transmission in the spring.

The Sign Zone appears on BBC One weekdays in a post-midnight slot.

The BBC1 Christmas and New Year schedule has been confirmed by the BBC Press Office.

Christmas Day sees the Doctor Who special The Runaway Bride starting at the traditional time of 7pm on BBC1.

There is also a special Doctor Who Confidential on BBC1 earlier at 1pm, entitled Music And Monsters.

On New Year's Day The Sarah Jane Adventures begin with Invasion Of The Bane at 4.50pm.

The Radio Times online shows The Christmas Invasion scheduled to air on BBC One (all regions) at 4:25PM GMT on Sunday 17 December. This marks the first time that a Doctor Who episode has been repeated on BBC One since Planet of the Daleks was shown in 1993, and the first ever repeat of a new series episode on the programme's home channel.

A clip of the The Runaway Bride, this year's Christmas special, has been leaked onto the internet. Four minutes of the show have appeared on the video sharing site YouTube, which lets people put video online for others to watch. BBC Newsround suggests that the clip might come from "a special concert for Children in Need in Cardiff, where parts of the show were screened." Be aware that the Newsround link provided here also reveals spoilers about what the clip contains.