A petition to name a recently discovered planet Gallifrey has received more than 26,000 supporters.

The planet, known as HD 106906 b, was discovered earlier this year by a team working at the University of Arizona. The planet is a gas giant that is estimated to be approximately eleven times the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star at a distance of nearly sixty billion miles, or about 650 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

A petition has been started by Australian Sam Menhennet to ask the International Astronomical Union to rename the planet Gallifrey, in honour of Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary. The petition can be viewed at change.org

The Press Association caught up with incoming Doctor Peter Capaldi at the Sky Women in Film & Television Awards in London on Friday, during which he reflected on becoming the long-lived Time Lord and of his predecessors in the role:
The actor was attending the event alongside the show's head writer Steven Moffat.

We are looking for new volunteers to assist with the Doctor Who News and News in Time and Space websites, taking on responsibility for reporting news items and/or writing reviews of related merchandise. Reporters from any country are welcome, but we are especially interested in those from outside the main five (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) who will be able to provide 'regional' news or details on events that is not necessarily available or obvious to English-speaking countries.

In addition we are also interested in hearing from anyone who is able to assist in compiling our broadcasting schedules for This Week in Doctor Who, updating with when Doctor Who or related shows are on air in their regions.

As well as current items, there is a wealth of legacy data that is still being incorporated into our Guide and This Week in Doctor Who, and if you are able to help in updating entries such as cast/crew biographies, broadcasts etc. we'd also like to hear from you.

If you are interested in becoming part of the team please do drop us a line outlining what you can help out with to applications@newsintimeandspace.com.

Canadian consumer electronics chains Future Shop and Best Buy Canada have announced an exclusive early release of The Enemy of the World and An Adventure in Space and Time exclusively in Canada on Tuesday, December 10th. For this early release both titles will only be available from these two retailers as well as from their websites. Retail price is $19.99 for each DVD.


Enemy of the World from Future Shop Canada
An Adventure in Space and Time from Future Shop Canada

Enemy of the World from Best Buy Canada
An Adventure in Space and Time from Best Buy Canada

With less than three weeks to go before The Time of The Doctor, the BBC have released a new set of images to promote Matt Smith's final adventure as the Doctor. Images feature Smith, Jenna Coleman as Clara and Orla Brady as Tasha Lem, plus two of his known adversaries:




The Time of The Doctor has now been confirmed for the following regions:

The actor Barry Jackson has died at the age of 75.

Jackson played three roles in Doctor Who, appearing in six episodes of the series. In 1965 he played Ascaris in the William Hartnell story The Romans, a mute assassin who tried to kill the Doctor believing he was the lute player Maximus Pettulian. He returned to the series in Mission to the Unknown where he played Jeff Garvey, a member of the expedition to the planet Kembel.

His final appearance in the series was as Drax - a renegade Time Lord and previous friend of the Doctor on Gallifrey - in the 1979 story The Armageddon Factor.

Away from Doctor Who, Jackson was best known for playing pathologist Dr George Bullard in Midsomer Murders for more than 10 years. He appeared in the first episode of the detective drama, staying until 2011.

His long career on television began in 1960, with the role of the Earl of Surrey in the BBC series An Age of Kings. Countless roles followed in other shows, including Doctors, Heartbeat, The Bill, A Touch of Frost, Bernard's Watch, Three Seven Eleven, All Creatures Great and Small, Hard Cases, Coronation Street, The Onedin Line, Blake's 7, Crown Court, Secret Army, Poldark, Z Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Harriet's Back in Town, Spy Trap, Adam Adamant Lives! and A for Andromeda.

Films that he appeared in included Ryan's Daughter and Barry Lyndon.

Jackson's agent said the actor died at home in north London surrounded by his family.

Full UK ratings are now available for the week of programmes leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the Doctor Who.

The final consolidated ratings include those who watch the programme within one week of transmission. iPlayer figures are also available where available.

The 50th anniversary episode Day of the Doctor, has set a new iPlayer record for getting the most requests in 24 hours, 1.27m which beats the previous high held by the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. It is also 2013's most-watched drama and the most tweeted-about drama, generating 442,692 tweets.

The fifty year old repeat of An Unearthly Child gained impressive ratings for BBC Four, four times the average for the time slot and making Doctor Who the 4th, 6th and 8th highest rated programmes on the network for the week. All episodes had an excellent Appreciation Index score.

Date	Time	Network	Programme	Final Rating	Share	iPlayer	Appreciation Index
Thursday 14th	21:00		The Science of Doctor Who	3.19 Million	13.3%	0.62 Million	85
			The Night of the Doctor	0.89 Million		0.60 Million
Monday 18th	20:03		The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who	0.78 Million	2.8%	0.69 Million	86
Tuesday 19th	00:39		The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who (R)	0.34 Million	11.4%	--
Thursday 21st	21:02		An Adventure in Space and Time	2.71 Million	10.8%	0.52 Million	88
Thursday 21st	22:31		An Unearthly Child	0.83 Million	4.7%	N/A	85
Thursday 21st	22:55		The Cave of Skulls	0.71 Million	5.3%	N/A	86
Thursday 21st	23:20		The Forest of Fear	0.52 Million	5.1%	N/A	86
Thursday 21st	23:44		The Firemaker	0.46 Million	6.0%	N/A	87
Friday 22nd	19:02		The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who (R)	0.59 Million	2.5%	--	87
Friday 22nd	21:31		Me, You and Doctor Who	0.99 Million	4.1%	0.05 Million	85
Saturday 23rd	19.50		Day of the Doctor	12.80 Million	40.9%	2.81 Million	88
Saturday 23rd	21.07		Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty	1.58 Million	5.6%	0.14 Million	69
			Behind The Lens	0.10 Million		--
			The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	0.49 Million		0.61 Million
Saturday 23rd	22:09		The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who (R)	0.83 Million	4.8%	--	85
Sunday 24th	19.12		Day of the Doctor (R)	0.68 Million	2.5%	--	92
Sunday 24th	20:31		Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty (R)	0.27 Million	0.9%	--	74

The BFI has released an excerpt from the panel session that it recorded at last month's preview screening of An Adventure In Space and Time.

Director Terry McDonough, actors Sacha Dhawan and David Bradley, William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney, and the BBC Two drama's writer Mark Gatiss were the special guests discussing the production with journalist Matthew Sweet - who donned a Menoptra outfit for the drama - following its world première on Tuesday 12th November.

Although not available on the BFI's YouTube channel as yet, the ten-minute extract can be viewed on the organisation's video page.

UPDATE - TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER: The excerpt has now been uploaded to the BFI's YouTube channel:

SPACE is the latest channel to confirm a transmission time for The Time of the Doctor, which will premiere in Canada on Christmas Day at 8:00pm (EST).

Other programming for SPACE in the run-up to the festive adventure includes a marathon run of the Christmas specials from 6:00pm on Christmas Eve, plus another chance to see An Adventure in Space and Time; then from 10:00am on Christmas Day itself the channel repeats the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.


The worldwide transmission time for The Time of the Doctor currently looks as follows: United Kingdom at 7:30pm GMT; Germany at 9:35pm CET (8:35pm GMT); Canada at 8:00pm EST (1:00am GMT); USA at 9:00pm EST (2:00am GMT); and Australia on Boxing Day at 7:30pm AEST (9:30am GMT).

ABC Australia have confirmed the christmas episode of Doctor Who, The Time of the Doctor, will be broadcast on ABC1, on Boxing Day, 26th December at 7.30pm

The episode, which sees Matt Smith leave the role of The Doctor, will be broadcast less than 24 hours after the UK showing.

Times have also been confirmed for the Christmas Day showings in the UK (7.30pm), the USA (9pm ET) and Germany (9.35pm CET)