This article asks: “Is this the Doctor Who general election? And are Labour hoping that some of the popularity of the show will rub off on them?” The forthcoming UK general election and Doctor Who do seem to be becoming evermore interlinked.

The new issue of Radio Times, harking back to its 30 April to 6 May issue from 2005 (opposite), shows the Daleks in the colours (blue, red and yellow) of the three main UK political parties, David Tennant, earlier this year, declared his support for the UK’s Labour Party and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the party’s current leader. Earlier this week, the Labour Party turned to the Doctor and a son of the Doctor in it’s campaign to win re-election in the contest.

The first party-election broadcast of the campaign premièred on YouTube before airing on UK television channels. In the Labour Party broadcast, The Road Ahead, the third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s son, Sean Pertwee, appeared, while the tenth Doctor David Tennant provided the voice-over.

See our earlier story about this week’s Radio Times and the interview with Brown, who reveals that Tennant is his favourite Doctor, and that he saw him recently in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

In recent months, both Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat have separately warned against David Cameron’s Conservatives winning the election, fearing the future of the BBC would be under threat. Citing Moffat’s comments, the Daily Mirror claimed that Saturday’s episode, The Beast Below, featured a message blasting the Tories:

In February, the Sunday Times claimed that writers wove anti-Tory propaganda into Doctor Who scripts in the 1980s.

As for the Liberal Democrats, their candidate for Blaenau Gwent, Wales, is one Matt Smith!

The Doctor Who bookshelf of awards eyes up Canada next, with a number of nominations in the categories for the Constellation Awards.


Former Doctor David Tennant is up for his third award for Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode with The Waters of Mars; he previously won in the 2006 and 2007 ceremonies. This time he is up against Gareth David Lloyd for his performance as Ianto Jones in Torchwood: Children of Earth (Day Four). Other nominations include Jenson Ackles (Supernatural), John Noble (Fringe), Misha Collins (Supernatural), Robin Dunne (Sanctuary) and Ron Livingston (Defying Gravity).

The Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode sees guest star Michelle Ryan nominated for her role as Lady Christina in Planet of the Dead. This was won last year by Catherine Tate for her role as Donna Noble in Turn Left, and in 2008 by Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow in Blink). Michelle's competition includes Agam Darshi (Sanctuary), Alona Tal (Supernatural), Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), Laura Harris (Defying Gravity) and Lena Headley (Sarah Connor Chronicles)

Doctor Who is (of course!) up for Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2009 for the fourth time, having won this category in all three previous ceremonies. This year it is up against the likes of Sanctuary, Supernatural, Stargate Universe, Defying Gravity, Flash Forward and Being Erica. (The series also won the Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television at the first ceremony in 2007.)

Best Overall 2009 Science Fiction Film or Television Script sees Torchwood: Children of Earth (Day One) nomimated; last year this was won by the Doctor Who episode Silence in the Library. Torchwood is up against Stargate Universe, Defying Gravity, Being Erica, Flash Forward and District 9.

In addition, the Best Female Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series category yields an unusual entry in the form of actress Aurora Buchanan, who has been nominated for the fan-made film Doctor Who: Victimsight. This is the only fan production to make the entire award nominations, and Aurora is up against major Hollywood actresses/entries like Emma Watson (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), Zoe Zaldana (nominated twice for both Star Trek and Avatar), and Dakota Fanning (Push).


The Constellation Awards are Canada's annual science fiction awards, and focus on rewarding excellence in science fiction film and television. This is the fourth year of the Awards, which are voted for by the Canadian public; it will take place at the Polaris 24 convention on 17th July 2010.

The Doctor Who team have arrived in New York as part of the publicity tour in the run up to the new series launch on BBC America this coming Saturday.

On Monday Matt Smith and Karen Gillan attended an industry screening of The Eleventh Hour at the Paley Center for Media where, along with executive producer Steven Moffat, they answered questions from the specially invited audience.

Smith talked about his audition and how he had to shoot 12 takes of the infamous fish custard scene in The Eleventh Hour. Moffat said his inspiration for the scene came from the Winnie-the-Pooh books, specifically the scene where Tigger claims to like everything, but then proceeds to reject all the foodstuffs offered to him.

Smith and Gillan had time for some sight seeing as well as attending a 'Meet the Cast' event at the Apple SoHo store and giving an interview to TV Guide Magazine and the New York Times.

The trio will attend a special screening of The Eleventh Hour on Wednesday at the Village East Cinema.

Actor Gareth David Lloyd - Ianto Jones from Torchwood - has penned a new comic strip to appear in Issue #21 of Torchwood Magazine.


This is not the first time an actor has penned a story; back in 2009 Captain Jack himself John Barrowman co-wrote Captain Jack and the Selkie with sister Carole for Issue #14.


Torchwood Magazine #21 is released in the United Kingdom on 15th April, and in the United States from 11th May.

The BBC has published a number of documents from its extensive written archive, detailing audience reaction to the arrival of a new Doctor, as it occurred over the years.

Viewer comments are contained in various letters and reports contained in the archive, showing viewers' reaction to each new face of the Time Lord. The papers, which span 40-plus years and are published online for the first time, reveal the difficulties of bedding in the new Doctor. Internal memos show that his first transformation was originally envisaged as a drug trip. "It is as if he has had the L.S.D. drug and instead of experiencing the kicks, he has the hell and dank horror which can be its effect", said one memo.

The change from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton didn't please some viewers. "Once a brilliant but eccentric scientist, he now comes over as a half-witted clown," said one viewer of Troughton's new role, although another praised Troughton for rescuing the show from the "mess it had degenerated into". Some viewers were fed up with the Daleks and felt they were no longer a novelty.

When Jon Pertwee came along in 1970 some viewers complained it didn't measure up to another Science Fiction programme. 'Hardly an adequate substitute for Star Trek, and by comparison rather childish' was one comment, although most thought Pertwee had made a most acceptable and satisfactory 'new' Doctor. The debut of Tom Baker, who went to to be one of the most highly regarded Doctors, also drew much criticism. "General opinion was that the new Dr Who is a looney," said one viewer. Others however said the new Doctor had "more life and humour" than the last and seemed likely to "buck the series up".

Peter Davison's arrival in 1982 was met with general approval although there were a couple of suggestions that he should stick to being a vet. Colin Baker was met with mixed reaction with some viewers feeling the new Doctor was so totally different in character from others who had gone before him that he seemed 'unreal'. Sylvester McCoy had one of the most difficult starts with poor appreciation figures. The report noted that there are "a core of loyal and enthusiastic fans of Doctor Who remaining", although it said, "their number seems to be decreasing with each successive series".

The site also has a gallery of actors who nearly became the Doctor.

The new items available join those already online looking at the Genesis of Doctor Who.

Roly Keating, the BBC's director for archive content, said: "As we welcome Matt Smith and Karen Gillan into the Tardis, it's the perfect moment to remember his predecessors and also to celebrate the work of the BBC Archive in preserving these documents and photographs for future generations."

The material can be found at bbc.co.uk/archive.

In just a fortnight since gracing the front cover of the Radio Times for the series launch, this week sees not just one but three covers devoted to the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks - with the three main political parties engaged in the current UK election campaign reflected in red, blue and yellow livery!

Inside, the magazine chats to Victory of the Daleks writer Mark Gatiss about his fascination with the Daleks, and explores their timeless appeal. Plus, an exclusive first look into the BBC’s online archive to find out its top Doctor Who secrets - the first ever access to audience research reports on previous Time Lords from Jon Pertwee to Sylvester McCoy.

This week also sees an interview with current Prime Minister Gordon Brown, plus a quickfire round of questions including Doctor Who:

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Fantom Films, readers of the Doctor Who News page are being offered a special opportunity to win a variety of their products!

Utopia is their flagship event of the year, and takes place over the weekend of 15th/16th May at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire. We are pleased to be able to offer a pair of tickets to the convention as first prize in a competition, with a number of items of merchandise produced by Fantom for the runner ups.


To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question:


Entries should be sent to Fantom Films at the competition address - please include your answer, name and daytime contact number.

Entries must be received by 12 noon, 18th April 2010, and winners will be picked at random.

Final figures for The Eleventh Hour have today been published by BARB and give Matt Smith's debut story an final rating of 10.08 million viewers.

This total is over two million higher than the initial overnight figure of 8 million which implies a large number of viewers time shifted the programme by recording it and watching it later in the week.

On BBC One the story had 9.59 million watching, enough to make the story the second most watched on the channel for the week and the fourth most watched on all British television. However an additional 494,000 people watched the simulcast on BBC HD, giving the story a total audience 10.08 million and making it the third most watched overall. It was only beaten by two episodes of Coronation Street. The programme got nearly 4 million more viewers than any other programme on Saturday.

The Eleventh Hour has the eighth highest rating since the series returned in 2005. If the HD figure is included it is the first episode in the programme's history to be the third most watched of the week. Only twelve out of 757 episodes have ever made the top five. It is the third highest premier story with only Tom Baker and Christopher Eccleston's first stories rating higher.

The episode has also spent most of the week in the top ten list of iPlayer requests, with nearly a million downloads so far.

The Beast Below achieved an AI score of 86.

The AI or Appreciation Index or AI score is a measure of how much an audience enjoyed a programme. The score was the same as that for The Eleventh Hour and is classed as excellent. Doctor Who had the joint highest score on BBC One and ITV 1 for the day, along with Casualty and Harry Potter.

The Sunday repeat was watched by 0.75 million viewers, where it was the 5th most watched programme of the day on multi -channel television. The share was 3.1%. On the main channels, Sunday's Coronation Street got 40,000 more viewers than Saturday's Doctor Who, pushing Doctor Who down to thirteenth place for the week. The position will almost certainly rise when final consolidated figures are published next week.

The BBC has released a trailer for Episode Three of the new series, Victory of the Daleks.

The episode is written by Mark Gatiss and stars Bill Paterson, Ian McNeice and Nicholas Briggs. It can be seen in the UK next Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One and at 8.25pm on BBC HD.