The Radio Times have confirmed the first episode of the news series of Doctor Who will be broadcast on Saturday 23rd April at 6:00pm.

The time slot is one of the earliest the series has received since it returned in 2005. Last year only Vampires from Venice was shown so early with most episodes starting around 6.30pm.

The programme will be preceded on BBC One by Don't Scare The Hare a new game show and followed So You Think You Can Dance, in which contestants perform in couples for the first time, hoping to impress judges Nigel Lythgoe, Arlene Phillips, Louise Redknapp and Sisco Gomez. It is the fifth in the series, which last week achieved 3.4 million viewers in its 6.30 timeslot.

ITV1 will be showing March of the Dinosaurs, a Feature-length CGI adventure from the makers of Walking with Dinosaurs, telling the story of an epic migration undertaken by a herd of dinosaurs in the high arctic 70 million years ago.

BBC Two has the 1964 Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, Channel 4 is showing Come Dine with Me and Channel Five the 1959 film Ben Hur.

Time	Programme	Nearest ITV1 Programme
5:10pm	BBC News	March of the Dinosaurs (5:00-7:00pm)
5:25pm	Don't Scare The Hare
6:00pm	Doctor Who - The Impossible Astronaut
6:45pm	So You Think You Can Dance	Sing if you Can (7:00-8:00pm)
8:00pm	The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins	Britain's Got Talent (8:00-9:00pm)
8:50pm	Casualty	Piers Morgan's Life Stories (9:00-10:00pm)

The early start means that Doctor Who Confidential can not follow directly on from the end of Doctor Who; BBC Three's schedule begins from 7:00pm, meaning some 15 minutes between the two - this may impact on Confidential's ratings, as the last time such a gap occured the behind-the-scenes show lost around 40% of its usual audience.

BBCHD have yet to confirm a time-slot for Doctor Who Confidential, with times after A History of Celtic Britain (6:45-7:45pm) still to be announced.

The new edition of the Radio Times introduces the new series of Doctor Who, which will premiere the following weekend at Easter.

The preview includes an interview with Matt Smith, in which the actor talks about the interest generated by Neil Gaiman's episode The Doctor's Wife, football, and also his feelings on the series culture:

Steven Moffatt also provides an introduction and exclusive guide to the thrill-packed episodes coming up over the next several weeks.

BBC America has organised a premiere screening of The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon and a Doctor Who themed party at the The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York on April 19. You can buy tickets for this even from the event page on TicketWeb. Full details below.

As part of publicity for the new series of Doctor Who in the United States, BBC America have released an interview with the three stars, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, which was conducted by their Anglophenia blog at the Doctor Who signing at Barnes & Noble in New York City:



The broadcaster has also released the second of their Insider series of videos; for this edition, "Get an inside look at The Doctor, featuring exclusive interviews with stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan plus Executive Producer/Lead Writer Steven Moffat."

 

A preview screening of The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon will be held in Chicago, Illinois on April 20.

BBC America and RedEye, a daily newspaper publication in Chicago will be hosting a preview screening of the first two episodes of Series 6 at 9:30pm on April 20 at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema.


RedEye will take the names of the first 200 people to RSVP. That will get you on the guest list but an RSVP does not guarantee admission. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. They advise people on the guest list to show up early. More details are on their website.

How to RSVP:

2|Entertain have announced release dates for DVDs coming up in the next few months. As well as other recently listed stories, the schedule indicates Earthstory - the boxed set featuring The Awakening and The Gunfighters - for 20th June, followed by Paradise Towers on 18th July, The Sun Makers on 1st August, and Day of the Daleks on 12th September.

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The company has also released details on the DVD features for Earthstory (detailed below). The box itself has an air of finality about it: The Awakening brings an end the adventures of the Fifth Doctor, being the final story of this era to be released on DVD; The Gunfighters is the last complete story before William Hartnell departed the role (The Tenth Planet has yet to appear on DVD, but is missing its final episode).

Europe's largest daily T-Shirt website Qwertee have launched their latest Doctor Who inspired design; it is created by graphic designer Crystal, who said: "Daleks need some down time too ya know! I mean…trying to destroy the Universe is hard work!"

This is a limited edition print which will only be available to purchase for three days (i.e. until 11:00pm Sunday 10th April).



Once again, readers of Doctor Who News will be able to take advantage of a special 40p/50¢ discount off the usual £8/€10/$13.50 price of the t-shirt - simply enter this promotional code when ordering:

 
            DoctorWhoNewsPage

The t-shirt can be ordered from the Qwertee website.



Meanwhile, we are delighted to announce a competition in association with Qwertee to win a t-shirt of your choice from their back catalogue - full details will appear on the Competitions page next week.

The BBC has released more information about the new BBC Two drama starring David Tennant as coach Jimmy Murphy.

United is based on the true story of Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes", the youngest side ever to win the Football League; the 1958 Munich Air Crash that claimed eight of their number; and the extraordinary spirit of a city that rebuilt the team in the wake of the disaster. The Munich Air Crash killed 23 of the 43 passengers on board, including supporters, journalists and embassy staff.

The drama was shot between November and December 2010 in and around the north of England and was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by James Strong, both of whom have previously worked on Torchwood and Doctor Who.

Tennant was asked in an interview with BBC; "What attracted you to United?"
You can read the full interview here.

United will broadcast in Week 17, 23rd - 29th April. An exact time and date is still to be announced.

The BBC Press Office have released details for Week 17 (23-29 April) which, though it confirms Doctor Who will be on that week, still doesn't give an actual time or date for broadcast!

Doctor Who Magazine reported in its new edition that the series will commence from 23rd April; Saturday programmes mentioned in the BBC press item include So You Think You Can Dance, on between 6:30-7:30pm, and Casualty at a time yet to be confirmed. This implies that The Impossible Astronaut could be broadcast either before or after the talent show.

In previous years, Doctor Who has premiered at: Rose (7:00pm, 45m); New Earth (7:05pm, 45m); Smith and Jones (7:00pm, 45m); Partners in Crime (6:45pm, 50m); The Eleventh Hour (6:25pm, 65m). If the time for So You Think You Can Dance doesn't alter, indications are that this premiere might be broadcast at either the earliest or latest time so far since the series returned!

The online version of the Radio Times publishes a fortnight ahead, so the BBC1 and other channel schedules for the 23rd April should appear this Sunday. However schedules for the week of 23rd April will not be fixed until shortly before they are sent to listing magazines around 14th April and any times published before that should be regarded as provisional.

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The Press Office synopsis for the episode:

Karen Gillan is to be a guest on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 13.

1iota.com, the ticketing website for the show has listed Gillan as a guest alongside actress Diane Lane. You can register for free tickets from the iota website. Filming will take place in Los Angeles, California at 4:30 PM PT. The episode will air at a later date.

Craig Ferguson has previously had Alex Kingston (River Song) and Matt Smith on his show. Smith appeared in a special show dedicated to Doctor Who while he was in the US filming for The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. The cast of Doctor Who will again be touring the US the promote the new series of the show. Events that have already been confirmed are: the cast signing at Barnes & Noble on April 8 and the BBC America premiere screening on April 11. Both of these events are in New York City.