The BBC Press Office have released information on the number of viewers that have used the red button facility on digital television, and revealed that the animated adventure Dreamland was watched by almost one million people.


"Traditional" broadcasting ratings are reported here.

Cable channel Space have issued a Press Release on the Canadian showing of The End of Time on 2nd January, originally reported here. As well as previewing the upcoming special the Channel will be devoting InnerSPACE on December 18th to Doctor Who including an interview with Russell T Davies. The channel also confirms it will be showing Matt Smith's first series in the Spring of 2010.

Meanwhile Australian fans are being offered the chance to download Voyage of the Damned free from iTunes courtsy of Australian paper The Age.
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Interviewed by writer and journalist Matthew Sweet in tonight's edition of Night Waves on BBC Radio 3, new Doctor Who lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat announced the return of a race of monsters to face new Doctor Matt Smith in the next series of the programme in 2010. After discussing various aspects of what it was like being in charge of Doctor Who, at the end of the interview Sweet asked Moffat if he could reveal one piece of information known to nobody outside of the production team, as a "teaser" for the next series. Moffat's answer is given in the spoiler box below.

The BBC have released a couple of Christmas messages from David Tennant, as The Doctor, wishing viewers a Merry Christmas, both of which are available on the BBC's YouTube Channel.

The last time The Doctor gave a Christmas message was 44 years ago at the end of the episode The Feast of Steven, broadcast on Christmas Day 1965, when William Hartnell raised a glass and wished a 'happy Christmas to all of you at home.'





The YouTube channel also has a number of clips from the upcoming Doctor Who themed edition of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Steven Moffat, the new lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, will be interviewed on BBC Radio 3's Night Waves programme this coming Tuesday, the 15th of December. The programme is presented by Matthew Sweet, runs from 9.15-10pm, and according to Sweet "He's one of a series of people we're talking to next week who have also recently taken over important cultural appointments."

Sweet is himself a long-term Doctor Who fan, who has written several articles about the programme in the mainstream British press in the past decade, particularly for The Independent newspaper. He has also written professional Doctor Who fiction himself, in the form of audio dramas and short stories for Big Finish Productions.

Night Waves can be heard live worldwide on the internet, and listened to again on the BBC iPlayer. You can keep track of all major Doctor Who-related programmes on British TV and radio this Christmas with our broadcast summary.

Final Ratings Data is now available for the entire run of Series Three of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The final two episodes of the series got a rating of 0.95 million for Part One of The Gift and 0.89 million for Part Two. The audience share for both episodes was 7%.

The ratings were once again much higher than the average for BBC One at this time of day with the programmes reaching three times as many viewers as is usual for the timeslot. The audience profile was consistent with this time of day suggesting that The Sarah Jane Adventures was being seen by a substantial number of its target audience on CBBC.

A comparison with other new CBBC shows transmitted at this time shows just how well the show is doing with The Sarah Jane Adventures getting more than double the average achieved by other programmes.

The highest rated episodes of the series were the two parts of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, which saw David Tennant guest starring as the Doctor. This episode also scored the highest AI figure for the series with a score of 89.


Full Audience data is available on Gallifrey Base.

In this week’s Doctor Who Adventures you’ll find a story guide about Journey’s End. As Davros and the Daleks plan to destroy the universe the Doctor needs some of his best friends to help him stop them.

The Magazine asks why do strange things keep happening to Donna and her family? Find out in this week’s fact file.

Doctor Who Adventures also reveals ten of the most grisly goodbyes in Doctor Who. Look out for cyber shocks and the kiss of death!

All this, plus  the Tenth Doctor in this week’s Countdown to Change, as well as a free Doctor Who gift.

Several papers have picked up on the arrival of the TARDIS at Caerphilly Castle in South Wales. The appearance is to promote the castle's Medieval Christmas fayre this weekend. The blue police box is located on top of the Inner East Gatehouse tower and will be lit up during the night. It will stay there until the New Year.

The castle was used to film some scenes for The End of Time.

The story is reported in The Mirror, The Sun, Wales Online and BBC News. Thanks to ahremsee of Gallifrey Base for the pictures.

BBC News have published an article looking into the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the 1979 Tom Baker story Shada.

The piece is written by Shaun Ley and is in conjunction with his Radio 4 programme Shelved, due for transmission this weekend.

The article provides new insight as to why the programme was abandoned. In the BBC Official History, being written by Professor Jean Seaton, it is suggested that the programme was sacrificed deliberately to make a political point regarding the effects of industrial action by the Broadcasting Unions.

The full programme can be heard on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday.