The Sun today continued its in-depth interview with Billie Piper, as featured yesterday.

Piper said that leaving Doctor Who still made her cry but added that she felt it was time to leave lest she got "complacent".

She was quoted as saying: "It was such a hard decision. I still cry about it, I'm such a cry baby.

"I don't know if I'll be able to watch the next series. I'll probably have to sit behind the couch with a cushion over my eyes.

"I just thought it was time to do something new - not because I felt tired, the material was crap or the people were nasty - but just because I felt like doing something else.

"I'd spent nine months filming in Cardiff and that's a long time to be away from your family and friends. I'm a real London girl, I absolutely love it. I found it increasingly hard to be away. I felt like if I'd stayed there any longer I would have become a bit complacent. And, suddenly, you've been doing it for five years and you're too scared to leave."

She said how hard it had been to tell Russell T Davies of her decision, but added that although they were both upset he had supported her completely.

"But life has to move on and there are great things happening in British TV. I just hope I don't regret leaving!"

Discussing David Tennant, Piper calls him "a lovely guy, super-duper down to earth, super-duper smart", and adds: "I think David will be the Doctor for a while, he really loves the show."

Also in The Sun Catherine Tate said she was disappointed she wasn't asked to continue as the Doctor's companion after appearing in the Christmas special.

She was quoted as saying: "They didn't ask me and I tend not to dwell on my failures.

"It was just such a fantastic job to get. It was like making an action movie. It was great but they didn't ask me."

David Tennant is quoted as saying: "An unconventional pairing but we'd have made a great team. I'm very disappointed."

The Sun has revived the story doing the rounds a while ago that Christopher Eccleston is tipped for the lead role in a remake of 1960s cult TV show The Prisoner.

The article says filming on the joint Sky One/Granada TV/AMC production will begin in the spring, with the programme showing worldwide in January 2008.

There is no comment from Eccleston or his agent, Lorraine Hamilton, in the piece to either confirm or deny his involvement.

To the side of the online article are links to "related stories", including a slideshow from The Runaway Bride.

Also in The Sun is a lengthy interview with Billie Piper in which the actress talks about anorexia, therapy, life as a pop princess and the impact of Doctor Who on her marriage to Chris Evans.

In addition, it refers to her split this week from boyfriend and law student Amadu Sowe, repeating her statement: "I've always tried to shield Amadu from the showbusiness world and public glare that I've learnt to live with over the years.

"I'm afraid that means I'm just not comfortable talking about our relationship or the finer points of it."

The feature finishes by referring to her forthcoming roles in The Ruby In The Smoke and Mansfield Park, with a closing quote from Piper: "I feel a bit more in control of my life than I ever have done - that's a great feeling, I’m really happy about it."

Big Finish has announced plans for the remainder of Season Two of their adaptation of Sapphire and Steel, which includes stories by Nigel Fairs ("Cruel Immortality") and Steve Lyons ("Perfect Day", featuring a return of a Season One character, Gold, played by Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss).

The season finale, penned by Joseph Lidster, is "The Mystery of the Missing Hour", which guest stars Sixth DoctorColin Baker as the Narrator and Sarah Douglas (known for her roles in Superman II and the television mini-series V) as Lady Marjorie.

The Sapphire and Steel series stars David Warner as Steel and Susannah Harker as Sapphire. Visit the Sapphire and Steel page on the Big Finish website for more details about these releases.

Shelter, the charity for the homeless, is calling on people to download a new version of The Kinks' classic "You Really Got Me" as "sung" by the BT Text voice of former Doctor Who, Tom Baker. The Shelter website also details how funds raised from this appeal will be spent.

Samples and download links for the track can be found here.

David Tennant interview

There is a short interview with David Tennant in It's Hot magzine (BBC, issue 59). On being asked what the strangest thing about 'being Doctor Who', he replies: "Action figures. They're really, really weird. They're good likenesses, but just so unlike anything to do with real life. I collected Star Wars figures as a child, then suddenly someone's presenting you with one that's... you!" He also mentions that at school his worst subject was maths "and related things like physics," and that he was "never into sport - I was more interested in telly. I managed to just about avoid being 'the weird geek boy' by being willing to loon around a bit."

On working with Freema Agyeman, David remarks: "Freema was a joy to work with in episode 12 of the last series. She is not only very talented and beautiful, she's great fun and I'm delighted she's coming on board the TARDIS full time. I can't wait to welcome her into the Who family!"

Billie Piper on "size zero" models

Billie Piper has criticized the presentation of super-skinny "size zero" models and stars as female role models. Speaking to Glamour magazine, Piper said, "I think the whole size zero debate is disgusting.

"My sister, who is 13, looks amazing but she's already worried about her figure," she continued. "She loves Posh [Victoria Beckham] and I say 'Come on Ellie, she's tiny. What's wrong with Shakira? She's sexy, curvy'. But she has no interest."

The story, sometimes combined with similar comments by Kate Winslet, has been widely covered in the British press and elsewhere. You can read more or less the same story at (deep breath): BBC News, the Independent, the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Mirror, the Daily Record, the Manchester Evening News, Reuters, ITV, Ireland Online, the Evening Standard, Digital Spy, Sky News, FemaleFirst.co.uk, inthenews.co.uk, Fametastic, andPOPand Entertainmentwise.com. The Daily Star put the story (under the heading "Billie Sniper") on its front page on Monday, and news sources as far afield as Australia (the Herald-Sun), Romania, India and the United Arab Emirates have picked up the story from wire services.

Is it a coincidence that Winslet's first major TV role was in Russell T. Davies's groundbreaking children's fantasy Dark Season?

More Billie

Easier.com has a story about the upcoming adaptation of The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman, which will star Billie Piper as Victorian heroine Sally Lockhart. The programme will air on BBC One on 27 December at 8.30pm.

Fans in Piper's hometown of Swindon can meet her at a signing at Borders Bookshop this Saturday between 1 and 3pm. This is a change from the previously announced time; you can read the full story at the Swindon Advertiser.

Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate is interviewed in this week's Heat magazine. Asked if she has always been a Doctor Who fan Tate replies:

"Well, I'm not an obsessive fan, but I used to watch it. For me, the big thing was to work with Russell T Davies and David Tennant. The fact that it's Doctor Who, which is such an iconic thing, is brilliant."

On being asked if it was amazing to be on set, Tate comments: "Yeah, of course, It was really exciting. I mean, it depends on whether you're a massive Doctor Who fan or not. I'm certainly a massive Russell and David fan, and to be inside the Tardis was incredible - it was such a fun thing to do." Working with David Tennant was "Brilliant. He's fantastic. I love his work. I've watched him do so much stuff on stage, and I've probably followed his career more closely than he realises! It was an absolute blast working with him."

Discussing The Runaway Bride being filmed in July and pretending it was Christmas: "I was hot in the wedding dress I had to wear, but [the supporting artists] had to wear hats and scarves and gloves! It was so hot, it was almost illegal. I worried for their human rights."

When asked if she will be watching her Doctor Who debut on Christmas Day, Tate replies: "Oh God, yeah. I mean, I don't usually like watching myself on screen, but this isn't about me. Whereas with my show I'm really critical of stuff, this is just something I was a part of and had a blast on. It's not a comfortable experience watching myself, but because it'sDoctor Who I'll do it."

Euros Lyn in TV Zone

Director Euros Lyn is interviewed in January's (issue 210) TV Zone (part of which is online) where he discusses The Runaway Bride. “I think one of the things about this series of Doctor Who is that the Doctor is taking his experiences with him... There’s always either inferred references, or specific references to his experiences as he’s lived them. So the robot Santas do come back and the Doctor obviously recognizes them because he’s met them before". On Rose’s absence, the Doctor "can’t not experience pain and loss for Rose, so that hang-over’s is very real and very present to him. Instead of Rose, there’s now Donna for the Doctor to deal with, at least for now. It’s incredibly different, for the main reason that the central relationship in this film is a new one and it’s profoundly different to the Doctor and Rose... when the audience watch it they will see something, a new Doctor Who that they’ve not experienced." On Catherine Tate's character, Euros comments: "She’s a handful, that’s for sure. A feisty, red-headed handful.”

Louise Jameson on Stage

Louise Jameson, who played the savage Leela opposite the Fourth Doctor in the 1970s, will be appearing opposite playwright/actor Steven Berkoff in his play Sit and Shiver, which opens at the Hackney Empire on January 25. More details at the London Theatre Guide.

Torchwood Renewal

The story of Torchwood being renewed for a second season, and moving to BBC Two, is covered at BBC News, The Sun, the Western Mail, The Stage, Sci Fi Wire and Sy Fy Portal.

John Barrowman

The Pink Paper mentions John Barrowman's wedding in Cardiff later this month. It also mentions that whilst 'the cast of Torchwood is waiting to hear whether a second series has been commissioned', 'Barrowman said he should also be soon reading scripts for the next Doctor Who series'. The story is also carried at gay.com.

Barrowman's civil partnership isn't the only change in his domestic life: he's also adopted a 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel named Teagan. The story (with photo) can be found at K9 Magazine (which still isn't about the tin dog).

Broadcasting
The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK ran an article by Stephen Armstrong on peer-to-peer filesharing on December the 10th, which highlighted Doctor Who as one of the programmes that may suffer a fragmentation in its audience from internet downloading. "One of the great triumphs of Saturday-evening television recently has been that shows such asThe X Factor and Doctor Who have proved genuine family viewing. In many households, 5-7pm on Saturday is the only point in the week when everyone spends time in the same room. Downloading is likely to cut that last bond. The Heroesmay save the planet, but they are helping to make the world a lonelier place."

What PC? has a story about the business challenges and opportunities presented by the migration of viewers from traditional broadcasting to online video content, suggesting that the trend "must be slightly worrying for the big terrestrial broadcasters, who throw hundreds of pounds at cutting-edge programming like Torchwood."

And some Christian clergy have criticized the BBC's choice of music for a Christmas programming trailer which included clips of The Runaway Bride. The trailer was set to the satirical strains of "Christmas with the Devil" by mock rock bandSpinal Tap, but one retired reverend called the juxtaposition of Christmas and pseudo-satanic lyrics "disgusting, diabolical". The canon of Birmingham Cathedral said, "I’ve enough to do without having to defend God from things like this." (This editor believes that the Almighty can hold his own against the threat of Spinal Tap.)

The story is in The Sun.

Reviews and Previews

Heat reviews this week's Torchwood episode, awarding it 4 (out of 5) stars. "Earlier in the series we suggested that someTorchwood storylines were a bit similar to movies like Men In Black and Species. Subsequent episodes, however, showed Russell T Davies had plenty of ideas, and we ate our words. Tonight, though, a plane that disappeared in 1953 re-emerges in Cardiff, like in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (except the Cardiff bit). Which means we regurgitate our words a little." (previewer: Chris Longridge)

At The Scotsman, reviewer Andrea Mullaney was critical of the Torchwood team, saying that their "seeming inability to learn from their mistakes is becoming annoying."

Heat gives The Runaway Bride their maximum 5 stars and comments: "Last year, Russell T Davies came up with a brilliantly dramatic, yet Christmassy Doctor Who special. This year, he goes one better by securing the talents of TV's woman-of-the-moment Catherine tate, playing a bride-to-be who ends up in the Tardis rather than at the altar. Turns out she's the key to an alien plan to take over the universe, masterminded by Sarah Parish!" (previewer: Boyd Hilton)

Closer magazine has Harry Hill comment on what TV to watch over Christmas, and regarding the Doctor Who Christmas Special he remarks: "Who'd have thought Doctor Who would be cool again? Continuing the comic cameo trend set by Peter Kay, Catherine Tate plays a bride whose wedding is unterrupted by nasty aliens. The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss plays a mad scientist - is there a BBC show he hasn't been in? Personally, I'd like to see former Docs Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy pop up."

All About Soap magazine rates The Runaway Bride at number 2 in their Christmas Top 5 TV shows. "What a liberty! The TARDIS is Rose-less for this festive episode, but David Tennant is back as the tasty time-travelling Doctor. And as a special Christmas treat, he's got a guest companion - Catherine Tate as runaway bride, Donna! While the Doctor tries his best to get Donna to her wedding before it's too late, they battle robot Father Christmases and the sinister Empress of Racnoss, played by former Cutting It star Sarah Parish."

Inside Soap previews The Sarah Jane Adventures on New Year's Day. 'Millions of dads turned dewy-eyed in April when Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) made a brief return to Doctor Who after 30 years. And in autumn 2007, she'll be staring in a show of her own. As a curtain-raiser to that comes this one-off drama... Now living in London, journalist Sarah is researching an addictive fizzy drink that's taking the world by storm. Someone else who's also intrigued is Sarah's next-door neighbour Maria - a young girl who's whisked away to the manufacturer's factory for an encounter of the monstrous kind!' "When the programme makers first contacted me, I thought they were calling about Torchwood," laughs Elisabeth. "Ooh,' I said, 'I'm going to be in the 9pm slot for once!" However, unlike that show, this one is aimed at younger viewers - although nostalgic dads will also be welcome on the sofa!'

Miscellaneous Mentions

Doctor Who and Torchwood get namechecks in a couple of media sources this week:

Television reviewer Caitlin Moran, who has expressed her love for Doctor Who, refers to Torchwood and the Doctor Who episode "New Earth" in her review of Stephen Spielberg's Into the West in The Times.

An automobile reviewer at Luton Today, apparently desperate for a simile, said that the wheel arches of the new Dodge Caliber are "as fully blown as Billie Piper's lips."

And finally, from New Zealand, we have the story of "Manawatu's Doctor Who", who is making his own TARDIS out of recycled material. The story is at stuff.co.nz -- your guess is as good as ours.

(Additional material by Paul Hayes, Peter Weaver and Kenny Davidson.)

The Australian Friends of Science Fiction in association with the Doctor Who Club of Australiaare hosting "A Day with John Barrowman", Captain Jack from Doctor Who and Torchwood, on Saturday March 24 2007.

The venue is the Bankstown Sports Club, Sydney, NSW.

More information (including how to book a ticket and accommodation) is available from the Friends of Science Fiction website.

Update: December 20 2006 Sadly this event has been postponed as John can no longer make it to Australia in March 2007 because of the commissioning of a second series of Torchwood. For more details see the Friends of Science Fiction website above.

Billie Piper is listed to be interviewed on Richard and Judy's Christmas Book Special on Monday 11 December, S4C (1.15pm-2.30pm). Piper is also on The Paul O'Grady Show on Wednesday 13 December, Channel 4 (5-6pm). (source: DigiGuide)

John Barrowman is appearing in The Royal Variety Performance 2006 on Tuesday 12 December, BBC1 (8pm-10pm) (thanks to Chuck Foster for this information)

Catherine Tate is listed as appearing on The Paul O'Grady Show on Monday 18 December, Channel 4 (5-6pm).

Tom Baker is Everywhere

There's more coverage of Tom Baker's return as the voice of British Telecom's text-to-voice service, and the novelty single in which Baker "sings" "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, at The Mirror, The Scotsman and Metro.

Baker is also providing his voice to Little Britain the Video Game, which is covered at PSP World, Pro-G,WorthPlaying.com and Games Asylum.

People

Catherine Tate is profiled in The Sunday Times, in advance of her appearance in The Runaway Bride on Christmas Day.

An interview with Sophia Myles in The Independent mentions her relationship with David Tennant, and the Tenth Doctor action figure she keeps in her purse when the two are separated: "I'm pretty excited about the fact that my boyfriend has an action doll. How cool is that? Now, all I'm waiting for is for the Doctor Who people to make a Madame de Pompadour doll so I can do a bit of Barbie and Ken action with them ... You know what I'm talking about." Myles is appearing in Dracula on BBC One opposite Love and Monsters' Marc Warren.

Paul Cornell mentions on his blog that he'll be watching his next Doctor Who story being filmed this Thursday.

The Observer asks Torchwood's Naoko Mori what she would save if her house was burning down. (The answer: Kermit the Frog and family photos.)

John Barrowman is supporting the canine charity Dogs Trust in their campaign against giving dogs or puppies as presents. Barrowman made an appearance at Dogs Trust West London Rehoming Centre as part of the campaign, titled "A Dog is for Life, Not Just for Christmas." Covered at the Dogs Trust website and (appropriately enough) at K9 Magazine. (Who knew the tin dog had his own magazine?)

And it seems that Victoria Beckham (who famously bought her husband Doctor Who: The Complete Shooting Scriptsfor Christmas last year) may be buying Billie Piper's old house in Los Angeles. The story, with mention of Piper, is popping up everywhere from Canada to India to New Zealand.

Miscellaneous mentions

The UK Sunday Express newspaper has printed praise for both Doctor Who and Torchwood as part of a front-page article claiming that "Ten million families have switched off their TVs because of the diet of sex and violence." The piece, by journalist David Stephenson, carries a quote from a spokeswoman for Tessa Jowell, the UK government's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which praises Torchwood as being at the head of digital television programming, along with the sketch show Little Britain and US import Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Increasingly programmes on digital channels are giving those on their terrestrial neighbours a run for their money," the spokeswoman said. Praise for Doctor Who itself comes in a quote from BBC Director of Vision Jana Bennett, responding to comments from the actor David Jason that it was one of the few programmes he was happy for his daughter to watch. "We’re delighted that David Jason appreciates Doctor Who and Robin Hood," the American executive said, "because we created them as programmes we hoped the whole family would enjoy, along with others like Planet Earth, Strictly Come Dancing and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?"

Scotland on Sunday has a review of the bestselling Doctor Who Annual 2007.

Jed Mercurio, writer of the medical drama Bodies, complained to The Times about the current vogue for family drama, or, as he described it, "juvenilia, things that are really children’s drama dressed up a bit for an adult audience."Bodies lost to Doctor Who at the BAFTAs this year, and Mercurio seems to be referring to Doctor Who in his commentary. He concludes, "If I give it a year people will have seen how boring it is to have endless Doctor Who spin-offs. Then, hopefully, people will go ‘we’ve made idiots of ourselves, let’s make something good again'." The Stage responds to Mercurio, calling him "bitter" and mentions in passing, "While I have my own feelings about Torchwood (i.e., it isn't very good), from the clips disc that just landed on my desk of the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures, I'm personally glad that somebody's making a bit of exciting drama for a bona fide children’s audience."

Also at The Stage, ITV's Controller of Drama mentions David Tennant and Billie Piper as examples of the type of "new talent" ITV hopes to show more of in the future: "Look at Billie Piper and David Tennant - even though they have worked before - the viewers feel like they have been in on their transition to mainstream television. They feel like they have been involved in the process and that’s what we are trying to do with more of our drama and new talent."

(Additional material by Kenny Davidson and Paul Hayes; thanks to "Russwhover" of the YaWho discussion group.)

The Daily Mail has run an article about star autobiographies that do not sell well. Billie Piper's book 'Growing Pains' is mentioned. The article does not go into details on her book sales, but a quick look atamazon.co.uk list it as 283 in Books. Amazon's synopsis of the book includes the following passage:'Billie Piper has won over the critics and the British public for a second time by re-inventing herself as an actress in BBC productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Canterbury Tales and, of course, Doctor Who . So how did she get from there to here? This is the funny, honest and insightful story of an extraordinary young life.'.

According to Sky Showbiz (Anne Montini's Gossip 29/11/06): 'Don't expect to see former Doctor Who actress Billie Piper at any sci-fi conventions. She told me: "I loved playing Rose Tyler but I won't be going to any Doctor Who-style conventions. They're just not for me."'