With all the excitement mounting for this year's Christmas Special the ghost of Doctor Who Christmas past still remains, with special effects team The Mill apparently winning the "Effects - Digital" category in this year's Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards.

The company was nominated for the special effects used in A Christmas Carol, with the win cited for: "A vast array of visual effects, displaying a Hollywood-style ambition, was hugely impressive, despite a modest budget."

However, the RTS have now issued an apology to the BBC and E4 over the announcement, where the award should actually have gone to Misfits! The presentation to The Mill has been reported as an administrative error, with the RTS stating: "There was a human error in data entry and steps have been taken to ensure that it cannot happen again."

(newslink: BBC News)

Since the announcement by director David Yates on the development of a movie version of Doctor Who, the casting of an actor for the role has attracted speculation through the media.

The Radio Times suggests a variety of potential Doctors, ranging from young popstar Justin Bieber through to another sci-fi stalwart William Shatner! Other names include Hugh Laurie, Colin Firth, Ricky Gervais, Lady Gaga and Morgan Freeman.

IGN ran a poll in which some 7000 readers voted Hugh Laurie as their favourite choice, with the runners up being Gary Oldman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Ewan McGregor. Entertainment Editor Chris Tilly said: "As one of the UK's most celebrated TV characters of all-time, fans are thrilled about the prospect of a 'Doctor Who' movie, with talk immediately turning to who should play the lead role. And with his combination of wit, intelligence, charm and eccentricity, Hugh Laurie was the runaway winner of our poll, with fans believing the Brit to be the perfect man to play the Time Lord on the big screen."

Betting firm William Hill have placed David Morrissey as their favourite - in the lead-up to 2008's The Next Doctor the actor was the firm favourite to take over from David Tennant as the eleventh Doctor; another contender for the role as the announcement of who would replace Tennant in early 2009 was Chiwetel Ejiofor who is currently William Hill's second favourite.

IndieWire also offers up Chiwetel Ejiofor as a potential big-screen Doctor, with other suggestions including Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, Tom Hardy and Andrew Garfield.

Movie odds aren't a new thing, of course; back in 2010 Paddy Power were offering 2/1 on Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp as becoming a movie Doctor!

Two new images have been released to promote the forthcoming The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe; click below for the full sized versions.

Christopher Eccleston has won the International Emmy for Best Actor.

The Ninth Doctor, won the award for his role in Jimmy McGovern's Accused for BBC One, which also won best drama series. In the drama, shown last year, Eccleston played a plumber who found £20,000 in the back of a cab but was arrested after it turned out the money was forged.

The awards, which celebrate TV production outside the United States, were presented by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in New York on Monday evening.

---

Eccleston is currently working on a new BBC One drama The Fuse.

Filming is currently taking place in Liverpool and Manchester for the four-part thriller which tells the story of a fictional council official (Eccleston) who realises he may have committed a murder during a drunken night out. An act of redemption eventually leads to him becoming a straight-talking mayoral candidate.

The Fuse is written by Bill Gallagher, who previously worked on Lark Rise To Candleford, and is made by Red Production Company (Single Father, Exile).

The new edition of the Radio Times (26 Nov - 2 Dec) features former editor Alison Graham's Festive Treats, a sneak peek of twelve programmes we can look forward to on television at Christmas; unsurprisingly Doctor Who is one of her shows to watch over the festive period!

Meanwhile, the next edition (3-10 Dec) promises to 'cover' what's in store for the Doctor in The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe - full details will be revealed on Saturday when the issue is published!

For the next week WhoNews are donating all profits from their iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch application to charity.

The application provides access to the latest news from several Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures websites in one easy to use application.

From Monday November 21st to the 28th, all profits from the WhoNews with be donated to two charities Cure Leukaemia and Little Hearts Matter.
Just by purchasing WhoNews from the App Store either via iTunes or on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, users will make a donation of £1.21 in the UK, $2.10 in the US and $1.90 in Australia. WhoNews is available from all iTunes App Stores across the world.

A roundup of some of the fan productions that have recently been released.

The TARDIS has landed at Westfield Stratford City bringing the Doctor and his companions to the shopping complex to launch the Series 6 Box Set released in the UK today.

Matt Smith, Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill will all be attending the event held at the brand new mega complex adjoining the 2012 Olympic site in east London.

The three stars will be signing copies of the box-set at HMV before attending a question and answer session in the Gallery Area. Fans around the world can view the experience via the BBC Worldwide YouTube channel from 1600GMT (4PM UK, 11am ET) today. The three stars will be answering questions in a panel hosted by DJ Jo Whiley.

They'll also be updates from the event on the BBC Facebook page and Doctor Who is also taking over the BBC Worldwide Twitter channel. Fans are encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #doctorwho all day.

Doctor Who was one of only two programmes to be accessed over 1 million times on the BBC iPlayer during October.

The series conclusion The Wedding of River Song, was requested 1.30 million times during the period it was available. It was beaten to first place for the month by the new natural history series, Frozen Planet which had 1.48 million requests.

Episode 1 of Young Apprentice was third with 0.91 million.

BBC Worldwide have responded to criticism of some of the charges associated with the official Doctor Who Convention being held next march in Cardiff.

The event costs £99 per day and originally attendees were also asked to book a separate £25 ticket for a picture or autograph with either Matt Smith or Steven Moffat.

After consultation with Moffat the convention has now agreed that the guaranteed autograph signing and photography opportunities with him will now be offered on a complimentary basis. Anyone who has already purchased a ticket for a session with Moffat via the website will be immediately refunded.

Instead the event will be holding a competition in the next few weeks offering Doctor Who Convention attendees the chance to be selected for a photograph or autograph with Steven Moffat.

The charges for a photograph or autograph with Matt Smith will remain. BBC Worldwide justify this by saying the photographs will be taken by a professional photographer and will be studio quality prints. They confirm that conference attendees will have other opportunities to see Matt Smith in person but the ticket will guarantee the opportunity to have a photograph or autograph with him.

BBC Worldwide have also answered criticism that the event is not child friendly. They say: