CBBC has released an exclusive preview clip of the first episode of Series 5 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. They have also released a behind the scenes video of the Series 5 screening at the BFI in London last month.

The first episode, entitled Sky, will broadcast on the CBBC channel on Monday 3rd October at 5:15 pm, with part two on the next day at the same time.


The Radio Times has a preview of the first episode. David Brown writes:

The BBC have released details for the final ever episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The Man Who Never Was will be the 27th and last story in the Doctor Who spin off, created by Russell T Davies and starring the late Elisabeth Sladen.

The two episodes are due to broadcast on CBBC on Monday 17th October and Tuesday 18th October respectively.

Final figures show Doctor Who: The God Complex was the 18th most watched programme of the week.

Final Figures include those who record the programme and watch it within seven days, but do not include those watching on iPlayer. ITV1 claimed all the top spots of the week with The X Factor, Downton Abbey and Doc Martin taking the top four spots. The main three soaps also did well pushing Doctor Who down to 18th place for the week.

The final episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day finished the week just outside the top 30 at number 32.

It's now just twenty-four hours before the premiere of the current series finale, The Wedding of River Song, broadcast at 7:05pm tomorrow on BBC1 and BBC1HD in the United Kingdom.

The BBC have released a couple of brief interviews to introduce the episode, with the first featuring Arthur Darvill discussing the script, and the second featuring producer Marcus Wilson and one of the story's guest stars:


Two new preview clips have also been published, featuring brief scenes from the episodes (warning, both previews feature encounters with guest stars that can be considered spoilers!):

Some new preview images have also been released for desktop wallpaper:

The Wedding of River Song will be on the BBC iPlayer after broadcast until the 8th October, and is repeated on BBC3 on Sunday at 7:00pm; internationally, SPACE in Canada shows the episode at 8:00pm ET, BBC America in the United States at 9:00pm ET, and on ABC1 in Australia at 7:30pm on the 8th October. New Zealand will air the show on Prime TV on the 20th October.

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Meanwhile, the final episode of Doctor Who Confidential is also broadcast on Saturday, on BBC3 at 8:35pm, and includes the mini-episode Death is the Only Answer, written by pupils from Oakley CE Junior School in Basingstoke. Last Thursday saw the school enjoy a special preview of the episode, only to find themselves joined by the surprise appearance of the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, alongside series lead writer Steven Moffat:



The episode will be available after broadcast via the BBC iPlayer until 8th October, and gets its high definition broadcast on Monday morning at 2:20am; a Cut Down version is broadcast on Sunday on BBC3 at 7:45pm.

Fiming on the Christmas Special of Doctor Who had been disrupted by a 24-hour strike called today to protest at compulsory redundancies at BBC Wales.

The dispute is over plans to cut four editors' posts and the failure of the BBC to offer redeployment to the four individuals involved.

In addition to the effect on Doctor Who, shooting on Casualty and Pobol y Cwm has also been suspended and the BBC Radio Wales breakfast show, Good Morning Wales, was replaced by arts programming.

The BBC Doctor Who page on Facebook have launched a competition for one lucky winner to win replicas of both the Eleventh Doctor's jacket and Captain Jack's coat!


The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom who are eighteen years of age or over; in order to enter simply ensure you "Like" the Doctor Who page, and then provide your name, address and other contact details via the competition entry form by 23rd October 2011.


The winner will be announced the week after closing date.

This week sees the final items of Doctor Who artwork up for auction by Arts For Hearts, the proceeds of which are donated to the Great Ormond Street Hospital to held fund research into organ transplants.

Concept artist Peter McKinstry has donated two A2 prints of K9, both of which have been signed by the artist and the voice of K9, John Leeson. Also up for auction is a page of original comic artwork from Doctor Who Adventures by John Ross


You can bid on the two K9 prints (one, two) and the John Ross artwork via Ebay.

(with thanks to Ian Stacey)

The producer of the behind-the-scenes documentary series Doctor Who Confidential, Zoe Rushton, has confirmed on Twitter that the show will no longer be produced by the BBC. The final edition of the show will be broadcast this coming Saturday at 8:35pm on BBC3 (with Rushton clarifying that previously reported production for a Christmas edition is no longer occuring).

Reasons for the show's cancellation have been cited by the Guardian newspaper as being financial in nature, with the BBC having to engage in several cost-cutting exercises to meet its tighter budget. Part of this initiative has been a 're-alignment' of programming on BBC3, with controller Zai Bennett commenting at last month's Edinburgh International Television Festival that "it's about focusing my budget on 9pm and 10pm; those are the time slots that count. Budgets are tight, so we have to be sensible with the money we have." Further details about BBC3 changes are expected to be outlined by the Director General, Mark Thompson on 6th October.

The BBC Press Office confirmed to us that:

This January sees the release of Invasion of the Dinosaurs on DVD, a story which has the dubious fame of including the final casualty of the old BBC process of destroying prints, with episode one only existing as a black and white print in the BBC Archive.

The episode, like other 'monochrome' Pertwee episodes, has been a focus as to whether a colour version could be recreated; speaking in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, DVD executive producer Dan Hall said:

As a result, the episode will be presented in the story in its 'clean' black and white version, with the partial colour restoration available as an alternative.

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The colour episode will be shown in the form of a special preview for attendees at the forthcoming DWAS convention, Time 5, taking place at Riverside Studios on Saturday 29th October 2011:

The trailer for the forthcoming The Reign of Terror - recently seen in Australia - will also be screened during the convention.
(with thanks to Paul Winter)

Voting is now open in longlist for the 2012 National TV Awards. Doctor Who and Torchwood: Miracle Day have been nominated in the 'Most Popular Drama' category.

Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, John Barrowman and Eve Myles have all been nominated in 'Outstanding Drama Performance' for their roles in Doctor Who and Torchwood: Miracle Day respectively.

John Barrowman has also been nominated in 'Most Popular Entertainment Presenter' while his show, Tonight's The Night, is up for 'Most Popular Entertainment Programme'.

Competition in the longlist will come from ITV's Downton Abbey. The period drama, featuring Hugh Bonneville (Henry Avery, The Curse of the Black Spot) recently won 6 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Voting in the longlist closes on 17 October 2011. The shortlist will be announced in January 2012.