Today's edition of Blue Peter saw the announcement of the winners for their competition to design a Doctor Who console. Of the thousands of entries received, the eventual final three designs selected from the age categories were chosen by Blue Peter editor Tim Levell, Doctor Who production designer Edward Thomas, and head writer Steven Moffat; the overall winner was then picked by new Doctor Matt Smith, who chose the design by Susannah from the 11-12 year old category.


Susannah, from Lancashire, will see her design used in an episode of the forthcoming series (to be filmed in Block 7 over the next few weeks), and will get to visit the set with Blue Peter during the production.



The winners in the other categories were Joshua in the 6-7 and Laura in the 8-10 categories. A full list of the runners up is currently available on the Blue Peter competitions page, which also includes a video of the competition winners being announced.

The episode is available to UK viewers on the BBC iplayer for the next seven days.

David Tennant has topped Daniel Craig to become the Best Dressed Man of 2009, according to Hello Magazine. In the online poll, the former Doctor pulled in over a third of the votes, with 35.4% of the 10,254 voters, a clear 12% majority over the current James Bond star's 23.3%.

Tennant recently lost out in Hello's Most Attractive Men poll, coming in at fifth place.

Total Sci-Fi Online have announced that actor/writer/director Noel Clarke will be giving an exclusive webchat this afternoon at 1:00pm from their website (via webchats).

The BBC have released a new promotional montage shot for the forthcoming Matt Smith series, which you can download from the official Doctor Who website.

It is believed that a new trailer to promote Doctor Who will be broadcast on BBC1 this coming Saturday; the series itself is expected to start within the next couple of months.

Doctor Who has often flirted with politics in its past; during the Barry Letts/Terrance Dicks era of the show a number of stories dealt with political matters in a fantasy environment (for example, the recent DVD release The Curse of Peladon/The Monster of Peladon features stories that explored early 1970s issues), Robert Holmes took umbrage with taxes in The Sunmakers, and even stories from the 'modern' era (World War Three) touched upon hot political topics of the time. However, the latter years of the 1980s produced political satire in the form of stories like Paradise Towers and The Happiness Patrol - something the Sunday Times explored this weekend in an article, "Doctor Who in war with Planet Maggie". Doctor of the time, Sylvester McCoy, commented:
Andrew Cartmel, script editor of the time, commented on what he outlined to producer John Nathan Turner during his interview for the position:
However, a BBC spokesman was reported to say that "we’re baffled by these claims - the BBC’s impartiality rules applied just as strongly then as they do to programmes now."

The Times piece was briefly discussed during BBC Breakfast on Sunday morning, alongside another popular media topic in highlighting current 'celebrity endorsement' of political parties (such as views by former Doctor David Tennant about the Conservative Party). Tonight's Newsnight on BBC2 saw a more lengthy debate on the pros and cons of political comment in Doctor Who between presenter Gavin Esler, Andrew Cartmel, and Doctor Who fan/former Conservative MP Tim Collins.

Cartmel clarified that the comment on overthrowing the government was taken out of context, and that John Nathan Turner then said that the most that Doctor Who could do is show that "people with purple skin and green skin are all equal". Collins was also quick to dismiss any intimation from the recent media interest that there was no 'secret' agenda that was hidden from the Conservatives - they were perfectly aware of the satire in the show at the time and quite happily enjoyed Doctor Who! He went on to point out that the show could be just as 'right-wing' as 'left', with the comment on tax from The Sunmakers a decade earlier targeting a Labour Government, and a mention of launching weapons in "45 seconds" from the recent revival (i.e. World War Three).

A feature accompanied the discussion, by correspondent Stephen Smith. It looked into how the BBC was being considered too "left-wing" in some quarters at the time, with comment from former BBC1 Controller Jonathan Powell; writer Adam Roberts also noted how science fiction in the UK in general had leanings in that direction. The item also included a comment by Terrance Dicks (considered ironic by Tim Collins in light of stories when he was script editor in the early 1970s!):


Newsnight is available in the UK on the BBC iplayer for the next seven days and the story is available around the World on the Newsnight Website.

Part One of The End of Time has debuted in Australia to respectable ratings. The special averaged 799,000 in the five major capital cities, facing stiff competition from the commercial networks, including a one-day international cricket match.

Meanwhile, David Tennant's final appearances as the Doctor has attracted some local media attention. Carolyn Stewart of the TV Week spoke to Tennant about his departure after four years, who expresses his excitement for his successor Matt Smith, saying that 'it'll be fantastic to see what he does with the role. He's a great actor and is full of ambition for the show. He's hungry for it and I'll think he'll be terrific.' Meanwhile Kerrie Murphy of The Weekend Australian writes of 'The End of Time' that while it is 'dense for those not schooled in Who mythology...once it gets going, it mixes the silly humour with adventure and an emotional undercurrent.' Erin McWhirter of the Herald-Sun also comments of the special that it is 'visually appealing and well scripted' but Conrad Walters of the Sydney Morning Herald is less kind writing that 'aside from a few lovely touches...the story is weaker than loyal viewers have a right to expect.'

The Sun has reported that Eastenders actress Nina Wadia is to appear in the forthcoming series of Doctor Who later this year.

The actress indicated that her role was filmed over a couple of days, and that she enjoyed working with new Doctor Matt Smith.

Radio Free Skaro have revealed that, according to an 'official BBC release', Matt Smith's opening story The Eleventh Hour will be an hour long.

The release is also said to provide a taster of the up-and-coming travels of the Doctor and Amy:


The release has yet to be confirmed by the usual BBC outlets themselves.

Sales of Doctor Who Adventures have slumped by nearly 50 per cent over the past year, according to latest figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The 26 issues distributed between 1 July 2009 and 31 December 2009 had a total average net circulation of 44,664 per edition across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This represented a 45.7 per cent drop year-on-year - the figure for the same period in 2008 was 82,205.

Acknowledging the huge fall, Jaynie Bye, joint managing director of BBC Children's Magazines, remained optimistic, saying: "Doctor Who Adventures is down year on year, as anticipated, but is still performing well given the absence of the show from the schedules for most of this period. We are confident that circulation will increase with the return of the Doctor to our screens in 2010."

For comparative figures, see the BBC Worldwide press release.

Concept Designer Peter McKinstry has published artwork on his website featuring concepts and illustrations from his work on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

McKinstry has been Concept Designer on Doctor Who since series two. He is responsible for coming up with the look of the series, from planets and space ships to weapons and monsters. As well as his work on the Doctor Who and its spin-offs he has also worked on the last three Harry Potter films and the Harry Potter Theme Park.