As reported by several viewers on our Forum, BBC1 tonight aired a promotional trailer for "The Christmas Invasion" with an overview of Series One after the BBC News at 10pm. The trailer is very much akin to the one shown in June, but with additional footage (from last year's episodes) on it, and the note about the "countdown" being on at the end.

According to a press release from the BBC, Germany is the latest country to acquire the new series, through a deal with commercial broadcaster ProSieben; the show will be seen on the German private TV station "Pro7". The sale was announced at the closing day of MIPCOM, the international audiovisual content market in Cannes. "ProSieben have licensed both the first series ... and the second series, which is currently in production. Russell T Davies' first series of Doctor Who attracted huge ratings and received critical acclaim when it aired on BBC ONE earlier this year. Announcing the deal, Isabelle Helle, Head of Germany, BBC Worldwide, said: 'The series has gained iconic status outside of the UK as well and has already been licensed to broadcasters in sixteen countries worldwide. We are excited that Doctor Who's time travelling will now take him to ProSieben so that viewers in Germany can also enjoy the adventures of the Time Lord and his companions.' ProSieben Head of Programming, Thomas Schultheis, said about the deal: 'Doctor Who is one of the most clever and entertaining series to come from Great Britain. The production values are visibly high and Russell T Davies' scripts provide top quality entertainment for a wide range of viewers: from science fiction fans to family audiences.'" The series is likely to start on ProSieben next year. The story was first announced on the German website www.wunschliste.de. (Thanks to Harald Gehlen, Steve Tribe, Martin Hoscik)

UKGold has launched a billboard campaign all over Britain for their forthcoming Doctor Who week, which vary from location to location -- but many contain a Dalek from the new series and the tagline "Watch Doctor Who Week Or Die". As Outpost Gallifrey previously reported, all 13 episodes of the first season of the new Doctor Who series will air beginning this Sunday, October 23 at 7:00pm, continuing throughout the week; check out the calendar here on the news page for timing. (Thanks to Anthony Forth)

UK digital TV supplier Home Choice - mainly covering the London area - is now showing Dr Who on their video-on-demand channel C1, a package called "Doctor Who Through The Ages". The stories are: 'The Three Doctors', 'The Deadly Assassin' (minus drowning sequence in Pt 3), 'The Caves of Androzani', 'Timelash' (cut up into four parts), 'The Curse of Fenric' (four part version) and the entirety of the first season of the new series (in 4:3 format). It's got rather a nice menu screen in which you first choose which Doctor you want, then choose any episode of the story (rather like on a DVD). The channel is currently trailering the series with an identikit quiz (eg Peter Davison's jumper and a Dalek's skirt!) followed by a teaser of clips from various stories. (Thanks to Mark Campbell)

Today's (Wednesday) edition of Blue Peter demonstrated how to make Doctor Who pen pots! The recent appearance by David Tennant and results of the monster design competition continue to lead the viewers' poll (details), currently having 58% support with 891 votes.

The BBC7 website now features three of the series trailers recorded for the Paul McGann series, including the 'What is the TARDIS?' one (not so far available on the offcial Doctor Who site). It also has all four episode trailers for Sword of Orion, with a spoiler warning attached to the trailers for parts three and four.

BBC Three continues to revise the running for its Who repeats. Sunday nights now start with a full-length Confidential, which is followed by a double bill (this week featuring the idiosyncratic pairing of episodes 11 and 12 with the 10th instalment of Confidential. The Wednesday Cut Downs seem to have been dropped entirely. The Friday evening repeats do not follow this double-bill format, and have therefore immediately fallen several weeks behind. The Saturday evening Confidential, meanwhile, returns in a slightly later timeslot, showing the full-length version of the previous night's Cut Down. The radio and television schedules are adjusted on our schedule here on the News Page. (Note that Friday night's DW Confidential is actually the first ever showing of a "Cut Down" version of that episode, "Special Effects".

The BBC News story about the TUC conference (see mention in Press Clips, below) made a surprising mention today in its last paragraph. The paragraph originally read "A Christmas special is due to be broadcast on Christmas Day, followed by a 13-part series next year" but has been altered later on Wednesday to state "A Christmas special is due to be broadcast at Christmas, followed by a 13-part series next year." Outpost Gallifrey believes that the item was merely an error and was later corrected, as we have reported that the current information we have suggests transmission the day after Christmas, on Boxing Day, December 26.

The new series will return to BBC television in October, as the digital channel UK Gold acquires rights to rebroadcast the first season. UK Gold will screen "Rose," "The End of the World" and "The Unquiet Dead" starting at 7pm on Sunday, 23 October; each subsequent day will feature two more episodes, with the final two on 28 October. Weekend repeats of each episode will begin immediately thereafter, broadcasting on Saturdays at 6pm and Sundays at 9pm. Meanwhile, UK Gold is now running an advert for the return, entitled "The Good, the Gay and the Ugly" (the middle section referring to the series 'Little Britain'); says our correspondent, "this is trailing the reruns of the 9th Doctor series on UK Gold (the Moxx of Balhoon is used to represent 'the Ugly'). No transmission times or dates are given in the advert, though." (Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Mark Francome)