The director of BBC Wales, Menna Richards, has announced that she is stepping down from the position after more than ten years guiding Welsh broadcasting.

It is of course during her tenure that Doctor Who finally returned to television as a series after some 16 years, and for many will be seen as one of her biggest achievements. The man behind the show's return, Russell T Davies said:
Speaking on BBC Wales Today, Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cardiff University (where Richards is Vice-President) said:

The Welsh secretary, Cheryl Gillan, summed up Richards's career at the BBC:

The site of the new BBC Studios in Cardiff Bay has been named Porth Teigr, reflecting the traditional name of Tiger Bay the area held during its dockland heyday.

The project is being undertaken by developer Igloo; director Mark Hallett said:
The BBC is due to begin production on hospital drama Casualty (relocating from Bristol) at the new site in March next year, with filming from September; Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures are expected to move there during 2012.

A digital media centre for small businesses is also being proposed by the developers.

Showbiz site Deadline are reporting that the actress Arlene Tur has been cast as a surgeon named Vera Juarez in the new series of Torchwood, The New World. The actress is best known on screen for her role as Bebe Arcel in another series by the network Starz, Crash.

A number of names have been associated with the main roles of the series, including Enver Gjokaj (Victor/Anthony Ceccoli in Dollhouse) and Chad Michael Murray (Lucas Scott in One Tree Hill) for CIA Agent Rex Matheson, and Amber Stevens (Ashleigh Howard in Greek) as Watch Analyst Esther Katusi - however, apart from the established characters played by John Barrowman (Jack), Eve Myles (Gwen) and Kai Owen (Rhys), no other cast announcements have been made so far.

Doctor Who is one of those subjects that can be a bane to competition question setters; apparently innocuous questions like "how many people have played the Doctor?" or "who created the Daleks?" are the subject of heated debate in fan circles - even the perennial question of Saturday morning children shows of "what does TARDIS stand for?" will provoke debate over whether the answer should be Dimension or Dimensions!

Channel 4 fell foul of this problem last Friday with a question set on their prize quiz show The Million Pound Drop, hosted by Davina McCall. During the show, the contestants Johnny and Dee were asked:
The couple, uncertain of the answer, eventually plumbed for a 50/50 chance with McCoy and McGann, but were subsequently told that both their guesses were wrong and the correct answer was actually David Tennant, costing them the game and prize money at that stage of £375,000.

Channel 4 were then inundated by calls from viewers, pointing out that the wrong answer had been given and that it should really have been McCoy, based on him playing the Doctor between 1987 and 1996 (Time and the Rani to the TV Movie).

They have since issued an apology over the question, with a spokesperson saying:

With a long-running series like Doctor Who it is important to set unambiguous questions, such as those used for contestants in the specialist rounds of Mastermind. The question above can be interpreted many ways and, as Who fans of course know, 'time is relative':

• if worded the way Channel 4 probably intended, David Tennant would have been the correct answer for most years/episodes on screen in the role, or longest actual time; Tom Baker, of course, holds the full record for both of these (seven years/172 ~25m episodes)
• Sylvester McCoy holds the record for longest serving current Doctor seen on screen, at eight years eight months
• Paul McGann holds the record for longest time as current Doctor across media (novels, audio), at some eight years ten months
• William Hartnell holds the record for the longest period being the Doctor on screen, from An Unearthly Child through to Vincent and the Doctor!

These statistics are of course open to individual interpretation, too!

Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner recently discussed developments for the new series of Torchwood with online media site Collider, during which some new details emerged about the potential setting for the series:


Davies also placed the new series in relation to what had been seen of Torchwood before:


The full interview can be read on the Collider website.

The third story in the current run of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Death of the Doctor, received the highest ratings ever on the digital channel CBBC.

The story, which featured Matt Smith as The Doctor and Katy Manning playing Jo Jones nee Grant, had 0.92 million watching part one and 0.96 million watching part two according to official figures from Barb. The previous high for the channel was 0.83 million for Tracey Beaker Returns in January.

The Alien files had 0.388 million watching. The various repeats over the week allowed The Sarah Jane Adventures to dominate the chart taking 8 of the top ten places.

Death of the Doctor was repeated later in the week on BBC One. Figures for these showings will be available later this month.

Matt Smith has revealed that there will be a special broadcast on BBC Radio One in the lead-up to the Christmas Special on BBC1/HD. This radio special was mentioned during an interview with Matt and Karen Gillan on the Fearne Cotton Show this morning, as part of their promotion for the release of the Series Five Boxed Set today. The interview will be available to listen on the BBC iplayer after the live show has finished.

The two stars had earlier appeared on the ITV1 breakfast show Daybreak - UK viewers can watch their interview on the ITV website.

This afternoon they will be signing the boxed set at London's HMV on Oxford Street (please note that this is a limited signing by wristband allocation).

Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat have both been nominated in Screen Category in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland awards. The awards scheme honours Scots who aim to exceed all expectations in their chosen fields across Scotland's rich cultural spectrum. Other nominees in the category are Paul Welsh and Martin Compston.

An error has been reported on one of the Series 5 soundtrack tracks. SilvaScreen have issues a statement saying "The CD is being repressed with the amended track and this will be available soon".

DVD Commissioning Editor Dan Hall has confirmed on twitter that a commentary recording for the Fifth Doctor story Frontios has been recorded and edited. Conformation of a commentary is no indication of a story's imminent release.

The second story in the current run of The Sarah Jane Adventures once again topped the weekly ratings for CBBC.

Part One of The Vault of Secrets had a confirmed audience of 731,000 viewers with Part Two getting 606,000 watching. Both episodes were repeated later in the week on BBC One where they had around 400,000 watching according to overnight figures. Final figures for the BBC One showing will be out later in the month.

The Sarah Jane Alien Files had 420,000 watching.

As reported in September, the existing Doctor Who exhibitions will close by early next year, and are to be combined into a new exhibition to be called The Doctor Who Experience. A few more details have now been released about the project.

The exhibition is to be designed by Design and AV specialist Sarner, a company well-versed in building large-scale projects such as museums and theme parks attractions. Says Michael Bennett, Sarner's creative director:
The exhibition is to feature an immersive, timed dark walk experience where visitors will become involved in "their very own Doctor Who adventure, helping the Doctor with a journey through time and space, fending off threats from iconic monsters along the way." Special effects and exclusively filmed footage will also form a part of the experience, including scenes with the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) and a recreation of his TARDIS console room.

As well as the 'adventure', the project will also include the more traditional exhibition, charting the entire history of the show from its humble beginnings in 1963 to the most recent series, with interactive areas, displays and memorabilia from the television show. Items in the exhibition include two versions of the TARDIS console room, harking from the 5th and 10th Doctor eras, the police box exterior circa 4th Doctor, and very recent props such as the Pandorica. Monsters include several generations of the Daleks and Cybermen, as well as Silurians, an Ice Warrior and a Zygon.

Steven Moffat, Head Writer and Executive Producer for Doctor Who, is enthusiatic about the project:
Matt Smith, the Doctor:
The Doctor Who Experience is set to open at London's Olympia on 20th February 2011, and then move to its permanent home in Cardiff during 2012. Tickets go on sale from the website from the 18th November, with prices ranging from £15-£20.