Filming for the new series of Doctor Who has returned to Caerphilly Castle in South Wales. The castle has been used as a location for filming The End of Time as well as well as episodes of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

See the spoiler section for more details on what occured.

Several news sources, including BBC News and The Mirror, have today picked up on comments by former Doctor Who star David Tennant in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, where he gives his backing to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Labour Party. He also criticises the Conservative Party, particularly opposition leader David Cameron.

In the magazine, published last Thursday, Tennant is quoted as saying:


Tennant appeared in a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party during the 2005 General Election campaign. Although he has made critical comments about the Conservative Party in the past, including in the Radio Times, this is the first time that his political stance has been widely reported by the mainstream media.

Final figures released by BARB make Doctor Who the most watched programme of Christmas week.

The End of Time, Part One had a final rating of 11.57 million on BBC One, much higher than the initial overnight figure reported. This alone makes the programme the 3rd highest rated on British Television for the week.

However if figures for those watching on BBC HD are included, as they arguably should be given the programme was simulcast on both channels, then an additional 470,000 viewers are added. This gives the episode had a final figure of 12.04 million viewers for its first showing, pushing the programme into the lead as the most watched programme of Christmas week.

This makes the episode one of only two in Doctor Who's long history to have been the most watched programme of the week. It is the 3rd highest rating since the series returned in 2005, only beaten by two previous Christmas specials, Voyage of the Damned and The Next Doctor. It has the 28th highest rating in the series history.

Doctor Who was the fifth most watched programme of the year, only being beaten by the Simon Cowell talent programmes. It was the highest rated programme on all of BBC Domestic Television, the first time this has happened. The previous highest place was 2nd for the year for The Voyage of the Damned which lost out to EastEnders. It was the highest rated drama of the year.

Another 1.18 million watched the repeat of the programme on BBC Three on Sunday, double the initial overnight figure, with an additional 770,000 watching on the iPlayer during the week. If the ratings for those who watched the programme on any platform during the first week after transmission are added together the total stands at an incredible 15.99 million.


Final figures for the second part of the story will be released next week.

This weeks Doctor Who Adventures asks Are you ready for the new Doctor?

The magazine has special lenticular cover where you can watch the the Tenth Doctor regenerate into the Eleventh Doctor. Inside, Doctor Who Adventures says goodbye to the Tenth Doctor and hello to the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith. Plus there is a look at what it takes to be the biggest and baddest monster.

Also…

• FREE stickers of The End of Time
• Fact File: What we’ll miss about the Tenth Doctor
• Top 10 Heroic Exits
• Posters from The End of Time

The British Board of Film Classification has cleared the Fourth Doctor story The Creature from the Pit for release on DVD.

The story, originally broadcast in the Autumn of 1979, stars Tom Baker as The Doctor, along with Lalla Ward as Romana and David Brierley as the voice of K9. Others in the cast include Myra Frances as Lady Adrast, Eileen Way as Karela and Geoffrey Bayldon as Organon.

The story was written by David Fisher and directed by Christopher Barry.

Extras cleared for the story are

• Christopher Barry: Director - 19'01"
• Team Erato - 14'46"
• Photo Gallery - 4'48"
• Animal Magic - 2'34"

No release date has yet been confirmed.

After the traditional break for Christmas, filming on the next series of Doctor Who resumed this week. Yesterday saw the production team return to the very public location of Roald Dahl Plass - a venue last seen being blown up in Torchwood: Children of Earth!

Not to be put off by the snow that's hit the country this week, both Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were present for filming, alongside the TARDIS and guest star Tony Curran. See the spoiler section for more details on what occured!



Not surprisingly, the media were quick to pick up on such public filming - for a run-down of articles see our Doctor Who in the Media article.

TV Tonight blog reports that Part One of The End of Time will make its Australian debut on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday 14 February 2010 at 7.30pm on ABC1. 'TV Tonight' also reports that Part Two of 'The End of Time' will screen the following Sunday, 21 February 2010, also on ABC1 at 7.30pm.

Thanks to TV Tonight.

The BBC has released a new image on the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith. The image is available on the BBC Website along with an image of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The new picture forms the basis for the cover to the revamped Doctor Who Magazine which is available in the United Kingdom from today.

The magazine confirms the writers for Matt Smith's first series as the Doctor.

Lead writer Steven Moffat will write six of the thirteen episodes. He will be joined by Chris Chibnall who is writing two episodes and Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, Gareth Roberts, Richard Curtis and Simon Nye all writing one episode each.

Toby Whithouse wrote the Series Two story School Reunion which saw the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9 to the series. He has also written for Torchwood and created Being Human for BBC Three.

Chris Chibnall wrote the Series Three story 42. He was head writer on Torchwood and has also written for Life on Mars.

Mark Gatiss is one of only three people to have both written and appeared in Doctor Who. He wrote The Unquiet Dead for Series One and The Idiot's Lantern for Series Two. He later went on to appear in the Third Series story The Lazarus Experiment.

Gareth Roberts wrote The Shakespeare Code for Series Three and The Unicorn and the Wasp for Series Four. He co-wrote Planet of the Dead with Russell T Davies. He has also written for The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Neither Simon Nye or Richard Curtis have written for Doctor Who before. Nye was the creator of the long running sitcom Men Behaving Badly, which was based on his first novel, for which he won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award and a Royal Television Society Award. He adapted The Railway Children for television in 2000 and has written many pantomimes. Curtis, whose contribution to the series was announced in September, was Oscar nominated for Four Weddings and a Funeral and is the man behind many British comedy films and sitcoms.

The new Doctor might have just uttered a few words so far, but his remark about still not being ginger has proved controversial with many grasping the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps egged on by comments in several newspapers, the BBC has received 143 complaints about the line, forcing the corporation to put out a statement clarifying that the Doctor was disappointed not to be ginger.
Further media items on this story can be found in this Doctor Who in the Media article.


Meanwhile, just 3 days after his debut on BBC America, the Eleventh Doctor turned up on the quiz show Jeopardy! The $800 question in the 1st round, under the category "Is This a Rerun?" was: "Matt Smith is the latest actor to be this Sci-fi Doctor, previously played by Peter Davison and Tom Baker". All three of the contestants appeared to know the answer.

The End of Time, Part Two set a record for BBC America getting a total of 1.47 million viewers over the three placings on the channel. This is the largest audience ever for a programme on BBC America, beating The Waters of Mars which was shown just before Christmas.

The premier showing of David Tennant's swansong, starting at 8.30pm ET, got 1.02 million watching, with the repeats getting 224,000 and 96,000 viewers respectively. The Waters of Mars had 1.1 million across the three placings.