The final episode in the current series of Doctor Who, The Big Bang, had an audience of 5.1 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The programme had 4.6 million watching on BBC One, with and additional 0.5 million watching on BBC HD. The share of the audience was 31%. Despite the early start, and baking hot weather across the UK, it was the second highest rated programme of the day and the highest rated programme on BBC One, beating Casualty by over a million viewers. The winner of the night was World Cup Live: USA v Ghana on ITV1 which had 5.7 million viewers.

Doctor Who won its time slot, with BBC Two, showing British hope Andy Murray playing at Wimbledon, coming second. In Scotland the Murray match just out-rated Doctor Who for most of the episode. The Big Bang peaked with 5.1 million on BBC One and 0.5 million on BBC HD.

Doctor Who currently stands as the 17th most watched programme of the week. Final figures, released next week, should see the programme in a significantly higher place.

On BBC Three, Doctor Who Confidential had 0.59 million watching, a 3.6% share of the audience

There is a new interview with Steven Moffat on YouTube, with an unexpected interviewer: Moffat's son Joshua! As "armytedd", Joshua discusses the season's structure with his father. The interview also touches on critics' reactions, the importance of timeshifted viewing, and why Moffat no longer visits fan forums.



For more videos from the junior Moffat, see "armytedd"'s YouTube channel.

Press reaction to the 2010 series finale of Doctor Who, The Big Bang, has started to appear on the internet.

One of the most high-concept Doctor Who episodes ever, is how The Telegraph describes the episode, with its reviewer praising Matt Smith as superb.

The Guardian Blog calls this finale brilliant, a classic modern fairytale unfolding before our eyes and easily the most sentimentally charged finale we've had yet.

Metro goes trawling Twitter for fans reaction to the story and finds positive comments. It describes it a thrilling climax to the series which captivated and confused in equal measure.

Seenit.co.uk says it was an exhilarating Doctor Who finale after a somewhat mixed run, while Unreality Shout says the episode was stunning, and closes off an incredible series of Doctor Who. It praises Matt Smith as simply brilliant and says Karen Gillan and her little cousin Caitlin Blackwood were fantastic together.

Anglotopia says it was a whirlwind episode which didn't disappoint and Den of Geek loved the episode even though it made the reviewer's head hurt. They call Steven Moffat something of a genius as he "peppered his script with quotable quips and lines, and ended his maiden run in the showrunner chair with some marvellous work with Amy Pond."

The second episode of Doctor Who: The Adventure Game, Blood of the Cybermen, is now available for download in the United Kingdom.

The PC game is available from the BBC Doctor Who site. A Mac version will be available on June 30th. An international version is expected to be released commercially next month.

Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, has spent the last few days filming for an independent feature film, Shadows of a Stranger. The film is described as an original tale that 're-samples' Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in a dark melange of 'ghostly' visitations, psychic travelling, and the search for one's atrophied humanity. It is being shot entirely on bluescreen.

Doctor Who Composer, Murray Gold has given an interview to The Daily Anthenaeum, in which he talks about his work on the series since its return in 2005 and the pressures of the relentless Doctor Who schedule. "There is never more than two weeks for a complete turnaround," he says. "At one point we dubbed five episodes in five weeks. It was almost impossible. I would start an episode and it would need to be finished four days later."

Writer Neil Gaiman has won the Cilip Carnegie Medal, for his fantasy tale The Graveyard Book. The award for children's fiction is the second major award for the novel, about an orphaned boy brought up by ghosts. The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children. It was established by in 1936, in memory of the Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Gaiman has completed a script for the 2011 series of Doctor Who.

Torchwood: Children of Earth has won a Saturn Award for Best Presentation on Television for BBC America.

The 2010 Saturn Awards were presented by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, recognizing excellence in the genre fields of movie and television.

Torchwood: Children of Earth was transmitted on BBC America in July 2009, shortly after its UK Premier. The series was stripped Monday to Friday in a 75 minute slot.

Other nominees in the category included Doctor Who: The End of Time.

Doctor Who fans in Cardiff can meet Daleks and Cybermen this weekend, at a special event held at The Hayes.

Hosted by Jason Mohammad, the BBC newsreader and presenter who's appeared in The Christmas Invasion, Voyage of the Damned, Turn Left and The Stolen Earth, as well as several episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, the event runs on Saturday from 10am until 2pm. There is the chance to play the second in the Doctor Who The Adventure Game series, Blood of the Cybermen, which is released that day. Scenes from the game will play on the big screen there'll be a limited supply of free post cards and posters available.

The Royal Mint have released a collection of Monster Medals to tie in with series five of Doctor Who:

First three in the collection are the aforementioned Dalek, plus a Weeping Angel and a Smiler, as seen below:


Further medals of the Doctor, Amy and Winder will be available in the collection soon.

Building of the new BBC Studios at Cardiff Docks commenced yesterday. The press release reports:
The press release suggests that, as well as the forthcoming series six, series seven would also continue to be filmed at the current Upper Boat Studios, assuming the schedule follows the pattern of previous years (i.e. from Summer 2011 to Spring 2012).

Meanwhile, demolition has commenced on the BBC premises on Victoria Road in London, originally built on the site of TCC Condensers (seen in stories like The Invasion and Spearhead from Space) and subsequently used as rehearsal rooms in the production of many other classic Doctor Who stories. It is believed that the site will be developed into flats (a fate already received by the former BBC Visual Effects Unit site nearby!).

It has also been reported that the building that was once home to Shawcraft Models in Uxbridge is also threatened with demolition. Shawcraft built many specialist props for the early seasons of Doctor Who, most notably remembered for the original Daleks (you can find out more about the company in a feature on the Doctor Who DVD release of The Space Museum/The Chase).

The BBC in-house magazine Ariel published an article on the future of BBC Television Centre itself this week: