6.1 million watched the Doctor Who series finale, The Wedding of River Song, on Saturday, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The the programme had an audience share of 28.3%. It was the third highest rated show of the day and the second highest rated programme on the BBC.

Top of the day was The X Factor with 9.5 million watching and Strictly Come Dancing was second for the day with 7.5 million, giving Doctor Who a much better lead-in than the two previous weeks. The new series of Merlin had 5.2 million watching as was fourth for the day.

All Star Family Fortunes on ITV1, had an average of 3.6 million viewers, with its audience dented by Strictly Come Dancing. During the period it was placed directly against Doctor Who it achieved 5.5 million against Doctor Who's 6 million viewers.

With one day to come Doctor Who is the 17th most watched programme of the week.

Final official figures should be available next week.

Closing Time has debuted in Australia to respectable ratings. TV Tonight reports that the episode averaged 691,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the second highest rating drama and the ninth highest rating programme for the day overall. The corresponding Confidential Cutdown rated 469,000 viewers in the five major capitals. These overnight figures, however, do not include regional, rural and time-shifted viewers and hence significantly understate the actual national ratings.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, The Girl Who Waited and episode 5 of Torchwood: Miracle Day: (both on Prime) rated 102,210 viewers and 82,580 viewers respectively.

The BBC has released further details about the new Adventure Game, The Gunpowder Plot. The story will feature the Doctor, Amy and Rory as voiced by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Artur Darvill respectively. The cast includes Ralf Little (The Royle Family), Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia, EastEnders), Dan Starkey (A Good Man Goes to War) and CBBC presenter Chris Johnson. The BBC teases that one of the "UK's best-known actresses" will also have a role but say her identity will be revealed shortly. The game will be released on the BBC's Doctor Who website on 31 October 2011.

Watch the preview clip below which features interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Ralf Little and Phil Daniels.

Doctor Who took time tonight to pay tribute to one of its longest-running characters.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart as played by the late Nicholas Courtney, was a stalwart of the series in the early seventies and appeared in a total of 102 episodes over the years. The actor died earlier this year after a long illness.

The 2011 series finale, The Wedding of River Song, saw the Doctor learn of the death of his former colleague in a phone call from the nursing home where the fictional brigadier spent his last days. "I'm afraid Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart passed away a few months ago," the nurse told the Doctor. "It was very peaceful. Talked a lot about you, if that's any comfort. Always made us pour an extra brandy in case you came round one of these days."

Executive producer, Steven Moffat, said of the decision to include the tribute to Courtney's character:
The character of The Brigadier first appeared in 1968 as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, in Episode Three of the Patrick Troughton story The Web of Fear. His last appearance in Doctor Who was in the fourth episode of the 1989 story  Battlefield.

After the series returned in 2005, viewers were told his character was in Peru until he was revived again for two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Enemy of the Bane

The seventh edition of Doctor Who Insider will be available in North America from 6th October.

This month Ian McNeice reveals his delight at being part of the extended Doctor Who family, following his return to Doctor Who as Winston Churchill in The Wedding of River Song.

Also this issue:

• ACE IN THE 80’S - Sophie Aldred shares her memories of playing groundbreaking companion Ace opposite Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.
• THE DOCTOR’S WHEELS - Whilst exiled on Earth in the 1970’s, the Doctor acquired two very different vehicles to transport him too and from his adventures – Bessie and the Whomobile. Insider investigates the real life story of both cars, revealing their origins and attempting to find out where they are now.
• DORIUM’S DELIGHT - Simon Fisher‐Becker couldn’t be happier to be playing blue man, Dorium Maldovar. Insider finds out why.
• I WAS... ADOLF HITLER - Albert Welling tells Insider what it was like to play the most hated man in history in Let’s Kill Hitler.
• NEXUS POINT - Whilst on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, the Sixth Doctor is slightly surprised to discover that his prosecutor, the Valeyard, is in fact a future version of himself!
• DATA FILE - We take a look at the life of the whimsical Second Doctor and his companions.
• TIME SCOOP - Insider follows the Doctor and his companion Romana on their quest for the six segments of the Key to Time.
• MERCHANDISE - Previews of the latest Doctor Who merchandise, including the special edition of The Talons of Weng‐Chiang on DVD. Authors Emma Beeby and Gordon Rennie tell Insider how they wrote Big Finish Productions’ new audio drama The Doomsday Quatrain, featuring the Seventh Doctor. And writer Naomi Alderman explains how she plays tricks with time in her new Doctor Who novel, Borrowed Time.
• FAN ZONE - Insider presents a special report on this year’s Comic‐Con event in San Diego where Doctor Who was featured in a big way!

PLUS! The latest official news and a giant, double‐sided poster of the Eleventh Doctor with Winston Churchill and the Second Doctor.


For subscription information, visit the USA or UK websites.

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.