BBC Worldwide has sold the first series of Dr Who spin-off Torchwood to Antipodean broadcaster TVNZ. The 13 part drama is part of a "significant package" of more than 40 hours worth of drama, natural history and factual programming including ITV event drama Primeval and wildlife skein Galapagos.

In a press release, Lisa Clements, Vice President of Programme Acquisitions at TVNZ said: "Torchwood and Primeval are both groundbreaking, action-packed shows representing a new direction in UK drama that is ideally suited to the innovative and exciting channel offering of TV2."

The Sydney Morning Herald's TV section for 1 January reports that Torchwood will be among the shows premiering on the ABC network this year. The story is titled Now, Look Here! for readers checking the print edition. Torchwood is on page 4 of the online edition of the article.

This weekend's countdown begins toward the Monday debut of the hour-long special The Sarah Jane Adventures. The episode, broadcast Monday 1 January from 4.50 to 5.50pm on BBC1/CBBC, is the pilot episode for a limited-run series that will air later in the year and brings Elisabeth Sladen back to the screen in the title role of Sarah Jane Smith, the role she was last seen as in the last Doctor Who season's episode "School Reunion".

Joining Sladen in the episode is Samantha Bond, best known as Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan "James Bond" films and for her role in the series "Distant Shores," as Mrs. Wormwood, and Jamie Davies as Wormwood's henchman, Davey. Sarah Jane's young sidekicks in the episode are Yasmin Page as Maria, Porsha Lawrence Mavour as Kelsey and Thomas Knight as Luke. K9 (possibly voiced by John Leeson) is to be seen briefly in the special but will not be in the series to follow.

The episode is entitled Invasion of the Bane, and is written by Gareth Roberts and Russell T Davies. Davies and Julie Gardner executive produce; Phil Collinson and Matthew Bouch are the producers.

Below is the episode's press release, as well as a collection of photos from the episode, presented here as a teaser for the Monday airing; click on each for a larger version. (As always, all photos are copyrighted to the BBC and used solely to promote the episode.)
Elisabeth Sladen -- Doctor Who's former sidekick -- is back as Sarah Jane Smith in a brand-new, fast-paced children's drama, created by Russell T Davies and from the makers of Doctor Who. The Sarah Jane Adventures ensures that children never look at fizzy drinks in the same way again...

Sarah Jane is fascinated by Bubbleshock, a strangely addictive organic drink that is taking the world by storm. She is almost oblivious to the arrival of her new neighbour, Maria, a young girl starting a new life with her father. Maria becomes intrigued by the strange goings on at Sarah Jane's house but, before she can investigate, she's whisked away by her new friend, Kelsey, to the brightly coloured, but sinister, Bubbleshock factory.

As Sarah Jane tries to find out what the mysterious Mrs Wormwood is doing at the factory, Maria and Kelsey embark on a tour which leads them into the path of a monstrous creature and a strange young boy with no name or past. When Sarah Jane and Maria discover the secret ingredient of Bubbleshock, they realise they are the only ones who can stop Mrs Wormwood and her evil plans for the human race.

Starting on Friday January 19th, 2007 (Friday night/Saturday morning) the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will commence a repeat run of the 2005 Doctor Who series starring Christopher Eccleston. Starting with the premiere episode "Rose" episodes will be broadcast each Friday at 12:00 midnight (12:30am in Newfoundland and Labrador). This will be the fourth full CBC network run of Series One since April 2005.

Episodes of Series Two with David Tennant will continue on the CBC after their Christmas hiatus with "The Satan Pit" on Monday January 15th, 2007 at 8:00pm (8:30pm in Newfoundland and Labrador).

The Children In Need Concert, which is available to digital viewers, has had an earlier start than previously advertised on site, with the first run commencing from 9:15am. The concert - filmed at Cardiff's Millennium Centre on 19th November - runs for approximately 90 minutes on a loop, and details of the schedule can be seen at any time by using the blue button during the concert.

The broadcast also includes a question-and-answer session with David Tennant, Russell T Davies and Murray Gold, plus a four-minute preview of "The Runaway Bride" (so you may not want to watch the concert until after 8:00pm!).

For those out and about and otherwise engaged in Christmas merriment, the concert will be broadcast digitally at other times throughout the Christmas season: Christmas Day (1:50-7:00pm, 8:50pm-4:00am - 1:45am for Freeview), 27th December (8:50pm-4:00am - 1:45am for Freeview), and then in the new year on 2nd/3rd January (7:50pm-4:00am - but not on Freeview). The audio-only version of the concert is also currently available from BBC Radio Wales on their "Listen Again" service.

For other coverage of the concert, don't forget this afternoon's behind-the-scenes look at the concert with Doctor Who Confidential on BBC1 at 1:00pm. Plus BBC Radio One delve into the concert in a three-hour programme with Jo Whiley from 4:00pm. This will be available on the "Listen Again" service for the next week, as is Doctor Who Back In Time, the behind-the-scenes from BBC Radio Wales broadcast yesterday.

Tonight's Doctor Who Christmas Special, "The Runaway Bride", is effectively being given a free trailer as part of the news headlines on BBC Radio 2 this Christmas Day morning. The hourly bulletin at 9am featured as its last article a report by entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson on the "news" that Catherine Tate will be joining the TARDIS crew for this evening's special.

Paterson reported how, although set at Christmas, the episode was actually shot on some of the hottest days of the summer in Cardiff. An interview clip with Tate was played, saying how she had felt sympathy for the extras who had had to dress in coats, hats and scarves to give the impression of it being winter.

Listeners were then reminded that "The Runaway Bride" can be seen tonight at 7pm on BBC One.

The American cable network Sci Fi Channel has announced that they have secured the rights to air Series Three starting in the summer of 2007, according to a note on their Doctor Who page. Sci Fi completed the airing of Series Two with the double-bill of "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" last night.

Series Three will air on the BBC in the UK this coming Spring; if this plan by Sci Fi in the US holds, it will be the earliest turnaround of episode broadcasts since the start of the new series (Series One having taken a full year; Series Two, six months).

Outpost Gallifrey has learned that the new trailer for The Sarah Jane Adventures will air on BBC1 on the following days and times:

• Monday 25 December - 8.00pm
  
• Tuesday 26 December - 11.53am
  
• Thursday 28 December - 5.05pm
  
• Friday 29 December - 11.42am

The people at KTEH 54, San Jose, CA http://www.kteh.org have sent out a press release heralding their acquisition of the Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who episodes, making them the first public TV station to publicize that they purchased this package. It is expected that public TV stations will get Doctor Who in a one-hour block - the unedited episodes followed by a cut-down version of the relevant Doctor Who Confidential episode. Says the article, "Doctor Whoreturns to KTEH after an absence of over four years. When the series last ran, KTEH had aired the equivalent of 7703 episodes (Over 10 times more than the BBC actually produced!!) as well as producing around a dozen Doctor Whorelated interviews. Beginning on April 13, 1981, Doctor Who captured the attention of the viewers of the San Francisco Bay Area, with the series being shown every weeknight, and full stories every Saturday night. Doctor Who last aired in January of 2003, and was a victim of budget problems and declining funding from the viewing public." A Teaser is available at http://www.dvillage.org/KTEH/DW-Teaser.mov.

A new 30 second long trailer for The Runaway Bride has now broadcast on BBC channels, showing many more clips from the episode.

Meanwhile, the BBC's childrens news programme Newsround featured more interviews with the cast, and also broadcast its own exclusive new clips from the episode in their BBC1 edition this afternoon.

David Tennant: "The Doctor losing Rose was a really big moment for him, and it would be a bit wrong if we just came back and said he's fine now, he's forgotten all about that."

Russell T Davies: "He's heartbroken, absolutely devastated because the love of his life has disappeared. But at the same time I don't want to give viewers on Christmas Day at 7 o'clock an hour's worth of weeping."

Catherine Tate: "They're such different characters, this is in no way a replacement for Rose or anything like that, it's just the next chapter in the Doctor's journey, because he needed a mission, and this was a mission, and it snaps him out of it a little bit."

The crew then when on to say what we can expect from series three (see spoiler section below).

The Doctor Who special can be found online at the CBBC website.


Other coverage of Doctor Who today included a mention of the press screening on the morning's edition of Newsround, which also briefly showed the talking cyberhelmet in an item about buying presents. And ITV1's GMTV also covered the press screening, with television critic Richard Arnold waxing lyrical on how good the Christmas special will be (and bemoaning the fact he missed the press screening himself!)

Six days and counting ...