David Tennant is starring alongside Kenneth Branagh in an eight-hour BBC Radio dramatisation of Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman.

The thirteen episodes will be broadcast from 18 to 25 September on BBC Radio 4.

This epic masterpiece, centred around the bloody battle of Stalingrad, charts the fate of both a nation and a family in the turmoil of war. Completed in 1960, the novel was deemed so dangerous by the KGB that the book itself was arrested.

Radio 4 can be heard on FM in the UK and around the world via the Radio 4 website. All epsiodes will be available for 30 days as a free podcast.
.

The 2012 Guinness World Records features the man with the largest collection of Daleks in the world.

Rob Hull, a 49 year old from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, is recognised for having the largest collection of the deadly assassins from Skaro, with a total of 571 models, collected over 20 years.

The collection contains Daleks large and small including a 1.8 metre (6ft) lifesize replica model. He brought his first Dalek at 29 and has been collecting them ever since, despite not being a fan of Doctor Who.

Hull's wife Dawn is not celebrating the record.


Doctor Who, is already the holder of two Guinness World Records, having been named the Worlds Most successful sci-fi series in 2009 as well as being the Longest running sci-fi series. Last year Doctor Who Magazine was named as the world's Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series.

Matt Smith met up with wounded Royal Marine rowers on the 13th July when they were engaged in the Thames Challenge. The crew were greeted by the actor at the Leander Club at Henley, being there himself for the BBC film Bert and Dickie, the story of the 1948 London Olympic win by the duo. [Thames Challenge, 13th Jul; This is the West County, 12th Sep]

Arthur Darvill fulfilled a lifelong ambition to dive with sharks, as seen in Doctor Who Confidential last Saturday: "Something that has both excited and terrified me is the idea of swimming with sharks. I just think they are such fascinating and amazing creatures. I’ve been snorkelling a few times but to be able to swim with them in a controlled environment is just awesome. It was like something from James Bond, just stepping into this giant pool with massive sharks. I was fairly nervous but also really excited." [Chester Chronicle, 12th Sep]

David Tennant will be one of the hosts for Children in Need's Manchester Rocks concert, taking place at the MEN Arena on 17th November. Acts include Coldplay, Elbow, JLS, Lady Gaga and Hugh Laurie. Tickets will go on sale on Friday, proceeds in support of the charity. [BBC Press, 14th Sep]

Speaking at the launch of his Christmas pantomime (Robinson Crusoe And The Caribbean Pirates ), John Barrowman commented on future Doctor casting: "I think a female doctor might work, you never know. The audience might not like that. I know there's a lot of young girls and women who would love that. I think that maybe they should go out on a limb next time and try it. That always stirs things up a little bit and makes things exciting and it's nice to see different things and challenges happen like that. Listen, if Captain Jack can be an omni-sexual time agent and an assistant to the doctor, why can't we have a female doctor?" [Press Association, 13th Sep]

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch commented about rumours of him becoming the Doctor on the Jonathan Ross Show: "The rumours started because David Tennant is a friend of mine and he said 'going up for my old job?', and I said 'I don’t think I am'. They’re huge shoes to fill. One of the reasons is the Doctor Who job is so hard, because you are on the flask, you are on the school lunch box, you have to sometimes go on the school bus as Doctor Who on promotional tours. I like to keep the work on the set." [The Jonathan Ross Show, ITV1, 10th Sep]

Tonight saw the 15th annual TV Choice Awards take place at the Savoy Hotel in London, with Doctor Who winning the Best Family Drama award for the second year running; the programme beat spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures and this year's NTA winner Waterloo Road.

Karen Gillan won the Best Actress award for her role as Amy in Doctor Who; she was up against fellow "Who" names Alex Kingston (Marchlands), Elisabeth Sladen (The Sarah Jane Adventures) and Freema Agyeman (Law and Order UK).

However, Matt Smith lost out on the Best Actor award, which went to his predecessor as the Doctor, David Tennant (Single Father); other nominees included the other Doctor of this millennium, Christopher Eccleston (The Shadow Line).

Results for all categories may be found via the TV Choice Awards website.

This weekend sees the premiere of The God Complex, the latest episode in the current series of Doctor Who, broadcast on BBC1/BBC1HD at 7:10pm, 17th September in the United Kingdom; it then follows on SPACE in Canada at 8:00pm ET, on BBC America in the United States at 9:00pm ET, and on ABC1 in Australia at 7:30pm on the 24th September.


There are also three preview clips available from the episode:


The BBC published an interview with writer Toby Whithouse; plus, Arthur Darvill provides an introduction to the episode and on working with guest star David Walliams:


A number of publicity photographs for the episode have now been released:

A new study of Doctor Who is looking for contributors. Edited by Dr. Lindy Orthia, lecturer at the Australian National University, Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology is likely to be published by Intellect sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. Any era of Doctor Who can be covered by contributors, though the TV series will be the book's primary focus. Work on non-TV Doctor Who may be considered "depending on space".

The book will be aimed at a mixed readership (academics and non-academics), and will include academic-style essays of 5000-7000 words as well as personal-style reflections of up to 1000 words.


The deadline for expressions of interest is December 15th 2011. Full details on how to submit these are available at the Doctor Who and Race blog.

Dr. Orthia completed her PhD on the subject of Doctor Who and science communication in 2010. Entitled "Enlightenment was the choice: Doctor Who and the Democratisation of Science", it is available online here.

Figures released by BARB show Doctor Who: Night Terrors, was the 19th most watched programme of the week.

The episode was the 7th most watched programme on BBC Television.

ITV1's HD ratings helped Red and Black edge slightly ahead of Doctor Who, although Doctor Who outrated the game show for the period the programmes were in direct opposition

The figures do not include those watching on iPlayer.

---

Meanwhile episode eight of Torchwood, End of the Road had a final UK rating of 4.64 million viewers. It was the 39th most watched programme of the week.

The AI score for Episode Nine of Torchwood, The Gathering, was 85.

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Waited had an Appreciation Index, or AI score of 85.

The AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the episode. The score puts the programme just inside the excellent category.

The score was the second highest on either of the main two channels for Saturday evening, with the Last Night of the Proms scoring highest.

With overnight figures now available for the whole week, Doctor Who finished 21st in the overnight charts. It should finish well within the top twenty when official ratings are issued next week.

Doctor Who Brand Manager Edward Russell has completed his 168 mile walk from the BBC's Upper Boat Studios in Wales to BBC Television Centre in London, and in the process raised over £15,000 in memory of Elisabeth Sladen.

Russell undertook the Walk for Lis to raise money for Meadow House Hospice, The NHS-funded facility which cared for the actress best known for playing Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and who died earlier this year.

Russell set off from the current home of Doctor Who, Upper Boat studios at Pontypridd in South Wales around 11am Saturday 3rd September. Walking an average of 21 miles a day, he arrived at the former home of the programme, BBC Television Centre in London at around 5pm last Saturday. Russell was joined for the last 7 miles of the walk by Doctor Who Magazine Editor Tom Spilsbury.

As of Sunday evening the walk had raised £15,622.13, exceeding Russell's target of £15,000.

Russell declared himself fine after the walk saying He passed on his thanks to everyone who supported, encouraged, retweeted and donated.

The Just Giving site is still open for donations for those who wish to contribute.

Night Terrors had a final consolidated rating of 7.07 million viewers.

Consolidated figures include those who record and watch the programme within seven days. The final rating is much more accurate than the initial overnight figure and is based on the actual broadcast time of the programme rather than its scheduled time.

Up against Doctor Who, Red or Black achieved an average audience of 7.11 million viewers, although during the time the programmes were head to head Doctor Who outrated the game show.

A chart position will be released later this week when final figures from the whole week are available.