The Eleventh Doctor has debuted in Australia to excellent ratings on both TV and the internet. TV Tonight reports that The Eleventh Hour averaged 1.033 million viewers in the five major capital cities, despite stiff competition from the commercial networks, including the final of The Biggest Loser. It was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's top-rating program of the day, rating higher than its popular Sunday 7pm news (By comparison, Part Two of The End of Time only rated 840,000 viewers in the five cities back in February). The episode and the corresponding Confidential Cutdown have also debuted on the ABC's iView service. TV Tonight reports that 'The Eleventh Hour', which appeared on iView almost two days before its televison debut, was also a big internet hit for the national broadcaster, having 112,000 views over the weekend (By way of comparison, the iView service had a total of 224,000 visitors, 540,000 visits and 2.8 million page views in the week ending 18 April). Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have also appeared in especially filmed ABC trailers directly inviting viewers to tune into ABC1 to watch the program on Sunday evening.

The debut of Matt Smith has also attracted considerable local media, including a number of interviews with the star on ABC Local Radio (including Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney local ABC) and the national ABC youth radio network Triple J, during which Matt has reflected on the long history and enduring popularity of 'Doctor Who' in Australia. In an amusing interview with TV Tonight, Smith even asks if an Australian version of Doctor Who has ever been considered! The actor has also been interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Sunday Telegraph and TV Week where he expresses the hope of filming a future episode in Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald has rated 'The Eleventh Hour' its 'show of the week' with Michael Idato writing that 'the real surprise is the manner in which Matt Smith owns the role completely from the very first frame. Any fear there might be teething problems or some lingering affection for his predecessor...failed to materialise. The verdict? Great, big, wallopy, timey-wimey brilliant.' Dianne Butler of the The Daily Telegraph also gives the program four stars, while Kerrie Murphy of the The Weekend Australian writes it 'is a pretty darn fantastic first full outing for the 11th doctor...Not only is Smith great but so is the story, which sees the Doctor crashing into the life of a feisty young girl who is visited by an unusual escapee prisoner. It nails the Doctor Who formula, mixing comedy with genuine tension and emotion.' Scott Ellis of the Sunday Age also writes of the new Doctor that he 'will take some getting used to but, by the end of this first adventure, Smith shows he has what it takes to reinvent the character again.' The Sunday Age also makes the episode one of its picks of the day also writing, 'Steven Moffat - the man who brought us two of the best-ever Doctor Who eps (Blink, The Girl in the Fireplace) is now head boy. Add the fabulous Matt Smith to the mix as the new Doctor and we're set for a superb series.' Moffat is also interviewed by David Knox of TV Tonight.

Just a reminder that the new series of Doctor Who - starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond - premieres in Australia, Canada and the US this weekend.

In the US, The Eleventh Hour, by Steven Moffat, hits TV screens on BBC America tonight (Saturday), at 9 p.m. ET. The opening episode will be preceded at 8 p.m. ET by Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, a documentary introducing the world of Doctor Who to new viewers.

Canada premieres The Eleventh Hour tonight (Saturday) on SPACE, also at 9 p.m. ET, with Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide showing before it at 8 p.m. ET.

In Australia, The Eleventh Hour will be broadcast on ABC 1 on Sunday (April 18) at 7.30 p.m. The series has already premiered in Australia on ABC iView, the station's Internet broadcasting service. Also, Series 1 of K9 continues to be broadcast weekly on Saturdays on Channel Ten.

The new series is receiving masses of press attention in all three countries. Digital Journal continues its coverage, running three separate pieces for the US launch, the Canadian launch and the Australian launch.



Meanwhile, in the UK, Matt Smith's Series 1 (Doctor Who, Series 31) continues tonight on BBC 1 at 6.30 p.m. with Victory of the Daleks, by Mark Gatiss. A report on the history of the metal menace has appeared on BBC News. As reported by us yesterday, immediately after this episode, there will be a trailer on BBC 1 for the fortcoming downloadable episodes of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games. Episode 3 of Doctor Who Confidential follows on BBC 3 at 7.15 p.m.

Friday's BBC Three repeat of The Beast Below had an audience of 0.48 million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures. The programme was the 6th highest rated for the day on multi-channel television.

The cut-down version of Doctor Who Confidential got 0.35 million watching and was the 18th most watched multi-channel programme.

Just a quick reminder of our competition to win tickets to the Fantom Films convention Utopia is still open until midday, Sunday - full details here!

The BBC will be broadcasting a special trailer for the forthcoming downloadable Adventure Games immediately after broadcast of tomorrow evening's episode Victory of the Daleks on BBC1, at around 7:15pm.
The clip will be also be available online on the BBC's Doctor Who website.

Doctor Who has set a new record for BBC's iPlayer downloads. The Eleventh Hour has achieved the highest number of requests in a week, with 1.27 million requests to view seven days after it was screened by the BBC. An episode of Top Gear was the most watched programme of 2009 with 1.6 million views, and it is possible The Eleventh Hour could exceed this figure when final figures are calculated.

As reported earlier this week, over 10 million watched the initial broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD.

Meanwhile Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have continued their wooing of the American media with a appearance on Fox News's Strategy Room talking about the series and explaining how the sonic screwdriver works.

Canadian Broadcaster SPACE have announced they will be showing the documentary Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide at 8pm ET this Saturday, immediately before the Canadian premier of The Eleventh Hour. The documentary is also being shown on BBC America and is described as an original, all-access look inside the world's biggest, most successful sci-fi television program.

The network have uploaded the recent Skype conversation with Steven Moffat, which took place at the recent screening party in Toronto. Matt Smith also gave an interview to Q, CBC Radio's mid-morning broadcast. The interview begins about 22 minutes into the podcast.

Press coverage of the imminent arrival of The Eleventh Doctor to North America continues with items in the Chicago Sun-Times, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and Reuters.

The Telegraph is to give away a series of Doctor Who Audio adventures starting next weekend with an early release of Matt Smith reading a brand new adventure for the Eleventh Doctor, The Runaway Train. It is understood this will be in the paper on Saturday 24th April.

The news comes from Doctor Who author Peter Anghelides, whose own story, Pest Control, featuring the Tenth Doctor and read by David Tennant, will be the second story released on the 25th and 26th April.

The promotion is part of a deal with BBC Audiobooks. Commissioning Editor Michael Stevens says
Other stories included are: Slipback, the Colin Baker story originally heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1985; Genesis of the Daleks and Exploration Earth featuring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen; and finally Mission to the Unknown, the soundtrack of the 1965 story, which was the one Doctor Who television episode not to feature the Doctor or any of his companions.

The BBC Press Office has released details for the second part of the Weeping Angels story, Flesh And Stone. Episode 5 of the new series will be shown in the UK on Saturday 1st May. The episode summary contains spoilers for part one of the story.

Meanwhile schedules for the 24th April have been confirmed with the first half of the story, The Time of Angels, scheduled for 6.20pm on BBC One and BBC HD.

The programme is once more scheduled between Total Wipeout and Over The Rainbow. ITV1 will be offering the Best of You've Been Framed with Harry Hill. Viewers not wanting to face a Weeping Angel can face Jeremy Paxman on BBC Two in a special Saturday election edition of Newsnight with Channel 4 offering Channel 4 News. Five will be showing the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Doctor Who Confidential will be at 7.05pm on BBC Three and at 8:25pm on BBC HD and reports on Matt Smith being photographed, scanned and 'rotoscoped' for the new online Doctor Who Adventure Games.

The Doctor Who promotional tour of the states continues with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan making appearances ahead of the series launch on BBC America this Saturday.

The official site has a report on the preview showing of The Eleventh Hour at the Village East movie theatre on Wednesday night. The event, attended by Smith, Gillan and executive producer Steven Moffat, drew fans from around the country with the queue forming as early as 6.30am. The Daily Mail reports on the event, continuing its fascination with the outfits of Karen Gillan. BBC America have uploaded video of Matt Smith signing his first head to their Facebook page.

Meanwhile the Paley Centre for Media has uploaded a video of the question and answer session which took place last Monday, and there is a report on the event on Newsarama. BBC America have uploaded a video of Smith and Gillan at the Apple store in SoHo.

The stars have also given interviews to a number of local TV stations such as WCSH6 based in Portland, Maine, with Steven Moffat talking to FilmSchool Rejects.

Doctor Who was even mentioned on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight, when a guest from Washington said the leadership debates, taking place in the UK tonight, may draw an audience as big as that achieved by the arrival of a new Doctor Who.

In Canada a special preview of The Eleventh Hour took place last week and is covered by The National Post. Steven Moffat talked to the event via Skype. We understand a 9 minute clip of The Eleventh Hour is available as a free download from iTunes Canada.

On the other side of the world the new series also launches in Australia this weekend. Fans are reporting that the ABC is so heavily promoting the fact that the first episode will be available online from midnight on Friday via its iView service that a lot of viewers are missing the fact that it will actually be shown on ABC1 on Sunday, with ABC announcers specifically mentioning the iView showing but not the Sunday one.