1.7 million viewers watched the BBC One Bank Holiday repeat of this year's Christmas Special, A Christmas Carol, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The episode, shown at 4.10pm, was watched by 9.5% of the total television audience and was the 42nd most watched programme of the day.

The timeslot was won by Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 with 2.5 million watching.

A Christmas Carol is now back on the BBC iPlayer for an additional 7 days.

BARB have now issued the official ratings for the Week Ending 26 December, confirming A Christmas Carol has a final rating of 12.11 million viewers. Once figures for those watching on HD are factored in, the programme finished fourth for the week, behind EastEnders, Coronation Street and the new Matt Lucas and David Walliams comedy, Come Fly With Me.

Only eight other Doctor Who episodes have ranked fourth or higher in the weekly charts, including Matt Smith's first story, The Eleventh Hour.

Thank you to all those who entered our Christmas Competition.

The standard was high with over 25% of answers within half a million of the correct answer.
The highest guess was an optimistic 15.48 million and the lowest a pessimistic 7.4 million.

Only one person, Peter Hart of Oxford in the United Kingdom, correctly guessed the exact number of 12.11 million.

He wins an Eleventh Doctor Christmas Adventure Set and as a bonus for guessing the exact number we will be sending a DVD of A Christmas Carol.

We have five runners up who also win an Eleventh Doctor Christmas Adventure Set.

• Chris Chalmers of London (12.10 million)
• Russell Reinke of Lake Wales, Florida (12.12 million)
• Kevin James Kirby of Camarillo, California (12.12 million)
• Lyndsey Robinson of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire (12.08 million)
• Sharon Vincent of Carterton, Oxfordshire (12.14 million)

Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One is being offered as a free download as part of iTunes UK's "12 Days of Christmas". The episode, also available in HD, will only be free for 24 hours on 4th January.

Click here to download from iTunes.

David Tennant talks about taking up the role of Jimmy Murphy in the BBC film United: "I am famously not that much of a football fan at all, so when the script arrived I didn't think that it was going to be for me. However, it really knocked me back and the emotional power of the story is what hooked me. The way I saw it was if it was affecting me, then it's one that is going to get to everyone." [Sunday Mail]

John Barrowman commented on how he feels the need to get back in shape: "I know I'm good-looking but I'm not egotistical, I have flaws. I have to dye my hair twice a month to get rid of all the grey, Scott doesn't like it grey. I also have these eye-flaps and bags. I have let myself go in the waist area; when I see myself naked, I know I'm heavy and out of shape - I need a hot personal trainer!" [Now Magazine]

Guardian critic Vicky Frost writes of high expectations for Steven Moffat: "As the successor to Russell T Davies at the helm of Doctor Who, Moffat had already become one of the few British TV writers to acquire the kind of recognition usually reserved for those on screen. But last summer's Sherlock, which Moffat co-wrote with Mark Gatiss, propelled him to a whole new level. "I've found myself in this situation and, let's be honest, I won't be in it for that long," Moffat says. "Nobody in their right minds could have expected this. It's ridiculous. I can't think of anyone having this much fun in TV at the moment."" [Guardian]

Moffat's Sherlock stablemate Mark Gatiss will be appearing at the Mill Arts Centre in Banbury on 7th January in aid of the Banbury and District Samaritans; described as an informal evening hosted by John Arthur, enabling the audience to meet and chat with the actor/writer. [with thanks to Steven Moffat]

Alex Kingston is due to be a guest on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS on 6th January. Kingston recently filmed in the UK and US for the next series of Doctor Who (and Matt Smith appeared on the show when shooting in the States in November). [with thanks to Dominic May]

Kylie Minogue (Astrid, Voyage of the Damned) has celebrated reaching five years since beating breast cancer. "I had a lot of support from around the world. A lot of it I didn’t see or hear, but I felt it. That might sound a little bit cosmic but in that kind of ­situation you need to reach for any positive feeling that you can. I really felt people’s good ­wishes. Sometimes you don’t want to be mollycoddled, you don’t want people treating you like you’re so ill. But what I found helpful is you have to let them help you. They are grieving as well. You have those moments when you’re down and so ­horribly, ­horribly low, but you still come up again, so believe in that." [Mirror]

The BBC One repeat of the Tenth Doctor's swansong, The End of Time Part Two, had an audience of 1.2 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

The programme which stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott and Timothy Dalton as Lord President, had a 10.6% share of the audience and was just out-rated by Bargain Hunt on BBC Two.

The repeat series concludes today on BBC One at 4.10pm with this year's Christmas Special A Christmas Carol.

This month sees the seventeenth annual National Television Awards take place at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday 26th January.

Last year saw Doctor Who win the Best Drama category, with outgoing Doctor David Tennant winning the Best Drama Performer award. After nominations took place in the summer, this year's shortlist reflects the same category entries, with the series in the Drama category and new Doctor Matt Smith up for Drama Performance.

However, Steven Moffat's other big series of 2010, Sherlock is also in the frame, with the show up against Doctor Who in Drama, and its star Benedict Cumberbatch in the Drama Performance category.

The final round of voting is currently open and results will be revealed live on ITV1 from 7:30pm.


The NTAs can also be followed on Twitter at @officialntas.

Sources are reporting that A Christmas Carol achieved a final rating of 12.11 million viewers with a 41.8% share of the total TV Audience.

The figure puts Doctor Who as the 3rd most watched programme of Christmas Day and is the fourth highest rating for the series since it returned in 2005. Only Voyage of Damned, The Next Doctor and The End of Time Part Two scored higher.

Final figures for the whole of Christmas week will be published later in the week by BARB.

The programme has been available on the BBC iPlayer for the past week and has so far been accessed 750,000 times. It is the fourth most requested programme in Christmas week, behind two episodes of Top Gear and Come Fly With Me.

The BBC One repeat of the 2009 Christmas special, The End of Time Part One, had an audience of 1.4 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

The programme which stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott and John Simm as The Master, had a 9.8% share of the audience and was level with Midsomer Murders on ITV1.

The repeat series continued today on BBC One with The End of Time Part Two.

The BBC One repeat of the 2009 Easter special, Planet of the Dead, had an audience of 1.3 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

The programme which stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Michelle Ryan as Christina and Lee Evans as Malcolm, had a 12.5% share of the audience and won its timeslot.

The repeat series continued today on BBC One with The End of Time Part One which, along with the rest of the repeat season, is available on the BBC iPlayer..

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011, and a new showreel from the BBC has been released highlighting shows coming up in the new year, which of course strongly features the forthcoming series of Doctor Who: