David Tennant will be leaving Doctor Who at the conclusion of the 2009 specials currently in production, the actor announced live on stage this evening at the National Television Awards.

The Guardian newspaper this evening broke the story prematurely, reporting on their website (in a report subsequently pulled down) that Tennant is "vacating the TARDIS and leaving the BBC's Doctor Who series at the end of next year. Tennant's decision brings to an end his popular four-year tenure as the time lord." The article went on to say that the BBC had confirmed that the actor "would complete the filming of four special episodes to be screened this year and in early 2010, as well as 2009's Christmas special."

The BBC Doctor Who website has now posted the full news: "I've had the most brilliant, bewildering and life changing time working on Doctor Who. I have loved every day of it," the actor says. "It would be very easy to cling on to the TARDIS console forever and I fear that if I don't take a deep breath and make the decision to move on now, then I simply never will. ... I'm still the Doctor all next year but when the time finally comes I'll be honoured to hand on the best job in the world to the next lucky git - whoever that may be." Tennant added that he "always thought the time to leave would be in conjunction with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner who have been such a huge part of it all for me. Steven Moffat is the most brilliant and exciting writer, the only possible successor to Russell and it was sorely tempting to be part of his amazing new plans for the show. I will be there, glued to my TV when his stories begin in 2010." He furthermore says that he feels "very privileged to have been part of this incredible phenomenon, and whilst I'm looking forward to new challenges I know I'll always be very proud to be the Tenth Doctor." Says Russell T Davies, "I've been lucky and honoured to work with David over the past few years - and it's not over yet, the Tenth Doctor still has five spectacular hours left! After which, I might drop an anvil on his head. Or maybe a piano. A radioactive piano. But we're planning the most enormous and spectacular ending, so keep watching!"

Says the BBC News site, Tennant is quoted as saying, "I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don't take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you'll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair." Tennant also says, "I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome," he said.

Tennant will appear in this year's Christmas special, as well as four specials being produced for 2009 and 2010 airdates by executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. Tennant confirmed to BBC News that the four specials for 2009/2010 will be "the four last stories that I do." New incoming executive producer Steven Moffat will then take over the series with new leads as the show returns for a normal, fifth series of episodes in 2010.

More details as they come in...

Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook have given a wide-ranging interview to Simon Mayo of BBC Radio 5 Live, as part of the promotion for their book, "The Writer's Tale".

The interview is available as a podcast for the next few days.

Director James Strong will be helming the Easter Doctor Who Special, Executive Producer Russell T. Daviesannounced in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

"We're so happy that he's returning to the fold," Davies stated. "James has handled Daleks in sewers, hordes of Adipose and Satan himself, as well as a Titanic with Kylie on board. But believe me, none of that will have prepared him for what we're about to unleash in this next script!"

The Easter special is scripted by Davies and Gareth Roberts, whose previous credits on the show include "Attack of the Graske", "The Shakespeare Code" and "The Unicorn and the Wasp".

Various news sources are reporting that during his appearance at the Cheltenham Literary Festival this weekend, Doctor Who executive producer and chief writer Russell T Davies commented that Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, had turned down a cameo appearance in the series, with Davies jokingly calling him a "swine" for having done so.

The BBC News coverage of the story also includes an embedded video of Davies's appearance on the BBC News Channel on Sunday, where he answered questions sent in by viewers.

The report says that Prince Charles did not personally see the request, which was declined on his behalf by his staff. "We receive a great many requests and it's impossible to accept them all," the BBC quotes a spokesman as having said.

The story is also being run by CBC, The Daily Express, Digital Spy, The Sun, OK! Magazine and many others.

The current BBC Controller of Fiction, Jane Tranter, is to leave her current post for a new job based in the United States. She will join BBC Worldwide as executive vice-president of programming and production, looking after its US scripted and reality business in Los Angeles.

Tranter was in charge of all BBC Drama output and was responsible for commissioning the return of Doctor Who in 2005. The current BBC Director of Vision,Jana Bennett described Tranter as an "unequalled force in British drama." She has reinvented family drama in Doctor Who, Robin Hood and Merlin and launched acclaimed contemporary series such as Spooks and Life on Mars as well as Cranford."

Tranter will be succeeded as the Controller of drama commissioning by Ben Stephenson, who has worked closely with Tranter in his current role of Head of Drama commissioning. A new Controller of Fiction will be appointed in the new year.

Posted By John Bowman

Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook will be signing copies of their forthcoming book, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, at bookshops in England and Wales next month.

The dates, venues and times are as follows:

October 8: Waterstone's, Piccadilly, London, 6pm

October 9: Waterstone's, High Street, Birmingham, midday, and Waterstone's, Trafford Centre, Manchester, 6pm

October 10: Borders, Bristol, 12.30pm, and Borders, Cardiff, 5.30pm.

Only copies of the book will be autographed.

The 512-page tome is published by BBC Books on September 25.

The Times newspaper in the UK has today published on its website a series of extracts from "The Writer's Tale", the forthcoming book by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook about the making of the new series of Doctor Who. The book is due to be released in the UK on September 25th.

The same newspaper has also made a news story out of the extracts, focusing on Davies's suggestion of Russell Tovey as a candidate for the Eleventh Doctor, and the fact that he considered attempting to get Harry Potter authorJK Rowling to appear in the 2008 Christmas special.

Further extracts will be published in Wednesday's paper.

Thanks to PolyG on the Doctor Who Forum

The Sun is reporting inside information on some major cast news for the 2009 specials starring David Tennant. Details are found in the Spoiler box below.

Remember, consider all such information as strictly rumour until confirmed publicly by the BBC.

UPDATE - SEP 12: The BBC today rejected one of the claims. The details are in the Spoiler box.

Doctor Who's first director Waris Hussein will be guest of honour at the National Media Museum's Bite The Mango film festival, taking place in Bradford from September 19-25, 2008.

As well as receiving a lifetime achievement award and being interviewed about his 40 years as a director, Hussein will be taking part in an interview specifically about directing the very first Doctor Who serial An Unearthly Child and the lost epic story Marco Polo.

The interview will take place on Sunday, September 21 at the museum in Bradford. It will be accompanied by photographs from the museum's Daily Herald archive and a screening of the 'take one' version of the episode "An Unearthly Child". Further details and tickets will be available from the museum's website.