Statistics released this week by the BBC, and reported in various sources such as The Guardian, have revealed that Doctor Who's fourth series was the most-watched programme on the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service during 2008. The iPlayer allows UK broadband internet users, as well as users of certain cable television and mobile phone devices, to stream or download episodes of various BBC television programmes for a limited time following their original television transmission.

The season finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures was watched by 0.7 million viewers according to unofficial overnight figures.

Final figures are available for the first part of the series which give an average rating of around 0.75 million viewers for each episode. This is considerably higher than the average rating for this time slot, around 0.45 million.

Every episode, apart from episode One, has been first shown on the CBBC channel, where they have been getting an additional half a million viewers.

The series has also been achieving high Audience Index figures, with most episodes scoring higher than 80. The highest rating was 86 for Part2 of The Last Sontaran, and the lowest 76 for Part 1 of The Mark of The Berserker.

In addition the Sunday Repeats of Series One on BBC One have been getting ratings of around 1 million viewers.

Unofficial overnight figures show that Part One of Day of the Clownachieved an audience of 0.5 million. The programme got a 5.3 per cent share of the audience.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 82,one of the highest scores for the day.

Meanwhile final figures available for the premier of part Two of The Last Sontaran, show it was the highest rated programme of the week on the CBBC channel, with 0.48 million viewers.

Unofficial overnight figures show that Part Two of The Last Sontaranachieved an audience of 0.6 million. The Sarah Jane Adventuresprogramme got a 6.1 per cent share of the audience.

The average is slightly down on the previous week's, probably because the episode had already been shown on CBBC.

Final figures for the BBC1 and CBBC showings will be released by BARB next week.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 86, putting the programme firmly in the excellent category. It was the highest figure on BBC1 for the day.

The Sarah Jane Adventures returned to BBC1 on Monday with unofficial figures showing that Part One of The Last Sontaranachieved a rating of 0.7 million. The programme got a 6.3 per cent share of the audience.

The average for the time slot is around 0.4 million viewers.

The Appreciation Index for the episode was 84, the joint highest figure on BBC1 for the day.

Doctor Who's Australian ratings continue to impress on Sunday evenings. Midnight averaged 1,095,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, whileTurn Left rated even more with 1,169,000. The latter episode being the Time Lord's best Aussie ratings since the record 1.248 million for 'Voyage of the Damned', 'Left' even beating Channel Seven's high-rating 'Dancing with the Stars'. The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'Look Who's Talking' and 'Here Come the Girls' also had excellent ratings gaining 853,000 and 941,000 viewers respectively, the latter being the programme's best Australian ratings ever.

Meanwhile, in the local media, Russell T. Davies has told Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald that 'there is a fundamental format to Doctor Who, which should never change-he's a wanderer...You're never changing the character, you're just putting more and more material into it and a bigger range of emotions...It's not like I think of 13 ideas and pick the ones I want, it's about thinking which writers will do what ideas well and keeping things spinning...In each season you want a historical story, a futuristic story, a modern-day story; some which are funny, some which are dark and there are some things you want to revisit. There are certain tent poles in the series that help you know where you are'. He also says of his successor Steven Moffatt that while 'he's famous for writing episodes that explore darker aspects of the story...he's also written some of the wittiest dialogue...Steve will do a brilliant job.' CitySearch previews 'Turn Left' writing that 'it makes for engrossing, tense and sometimes jaw-dropping television. Tate pretty much carries this episode on her own, and what a great job she does, too. It's around about this episode that all her critics should be quietly retracting their earlier comments.' Meanwhile Pat Sheil also of 'The Sydney Morning Herald', previews The Stolen Earth and laments that while the new series has 'lost its sense of the ridiculous' this episode is 'a hoot.'

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has confirmed that it is showing the full 65 minute episode version of 'Journey's End' with the 25 minute Confidential Cutdown at the later time of 10.45pm on Sunday 28 September.

Thanks to the contributors to the Australian forums

Doctor Who's excellent ratings in Australia continue despite tough competition from the Beijing Olympics. It has now passed the one million mark for an unprecedented eight weeks in a row. The Doctor's Daughter rated 1,008,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while The Unicorn and the Wasp rated even significantly more with 1,074,000. TV blogger David Dale also notes that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 'has reaped the benefits of offering an alternative to [Olympic generated] nationalism. Its most popular shows barely suffered a dent in audience - ABC Sunday news andSpicks and Specks drew 1.1 million, Dr Who drew 1 million and a repeat of Agatha Christie's Poirotdrew 994,000 on Friday before the great writer herself met The Doctor himself on Sunday night.'

The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'Sins of the Fathers' and 'Nemesis' also had solid ratings gaining 721,000 and 692,000 viewers respectively in the five major capital cities. By way of comparison, Perfect Day: The Millennium only garnered 500,000 viewers for the ABC at 8.35pm after 'Nemesis'.

Meanwhile, in the local media Conrad Walters of The Sydney Morning Herald describes 'Unicorn' as 'quite spiffing.'CitySearch also praises 'Unicorn' noting the 'amazingly flexible format Doctor Who has. One week, it's an action thriller with aliens invading Earth, the next it's pure science fiction and DNA replicators, and then it's a murder mystery set in 1920's England! And it all works!...It's not often Doctor Who goes as blatantly comedic as it does here - look out for Agatha Christie titles littered throughout the dialogue - but it's a refreshing mid-season breather, especially given the rest of the season looks to be heading into much darker territory.' Meanwhile, Chris Hook of The Daily Telegraphgives 'The Doctor's Daughter' the 'pick of the day' and describes 'Unicorn' as 'another instalment in what is shaping up to be a cracking season.' Fergus Shiel of The Age also calls 'Unicorn' a 'spiffing mix of the English sci-fi and mystery traditions...And as [Russell T.] Davies prepares to blast off from the show that he reinvented so spectacularly, we ought to thank you for the memories and for making the Time Lord timely again and funnier than ever before.'

Meanwhile, the TV Tonight blog reports that Channel Ten will start broadcasting series two of Torchwood on its high definition channel on Monday 1 September 2008 at 10.30pm.

Thanks to contributors to the Australian forums

Doctor Who's excellent ratings in Australia continue despite tough competition from the commercial networks. It has now broken the one million mark for an unprecedented six weeks in a row. The Sontaran Strategem rated 1,039,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while The Poison Sky rated slightly more with 1,064,000. The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'Send in the Clones' and 'Sontar-Ha!' also rated extremely well gaining 934,000 and 853,000 viewers respectively in the five major capital cities. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is also making the most recently broadcast episodes of 'Doctor Who' and 'Confidential Cutdown' available on the weekly 'CatchUp' section of its new ABCiView internet TV service.

Meanwhile, in the local media Tim Hunter of The Age praises Catherine Tate and Russell T. Davies for bringing back Donna Noble despite the misgivings of many fans. CitySearch also previews 'The Sontaran Strategem' while Tim Artlett of The Daily Telegraph writes 'if your car has a GPS, best to avoid [this] episode . . . [but] although the aliens . . . might look like recycle bins or spare R2D2 parts, the fast pace is addictive and the climax will leave fans aching to know what happens next.' Catherine Deveny of 'The Age' also gives 'The Poison Sky' the pick of the day: 'Drama, comedy, science fiction all rolled together with David Tennant on top' while Melinda Houston of The Sunday Agealso gives this episode three stars.

Meanwhile, the TV Tonight blog reports that Channel Ten still intends to broadcast series two of Torchwood, either on its main channel or its high definition channel. Last year, series one of 'Torchwood' was moved by Channel Ten mid-series from prime time to a midnight timeslot due to disappointing ratings.

Update: 5 August 2008: David Tennant's appearance on Top Gear, in the reasonably priced car segment, has also seen Australian public broadcasterSBS score excellent ratings. The broadcaster, which has the smallest audience share of the five major Australian TV networks, received 1,042,000 viewers in the five major capital cities for the 'Top Gear' series final.

Thanks to contributors to the Australian forums

Doctor Who's excellent ratings in Australia continue with it topping the one million mark for the fourth week in a row.The Fires of Pompeii rated 1,101,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while Planet of the Ood rated 1,092,000. The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'The Italian Job' and 'Oods and Ends' also rated extremely well gaining 875,000 and 936,000 viewers respectively in the five major capital cities. By way of comparison, series three of Doctor Who only averaged around 846,000 viewers in its old Saturday night timeslot with a top rating of 928,000 for 'Smith and Jones'.

Meanwhile, 'Doctor Who' continues to attract some local media. Graeme Blundell of 'The Weekend Australia' writes affectionately of a programme he and his children grew up with and where 'there is still a highly enjoyable kind of campiness at work...Tennant is perfect comic strip-style Doctor ... [while] wonderful Tate provides a nice comic turn as Donna, shades of the many characters from her own series ghosting across her face as she chases after the Doctor.'Ruth Ritchie of The Sydney Morning Herald is a bit more ambivalent about series four though, suggesting that Catherine Tate may be too much of a good thing. She writes that 'when both leads have funny bones, when the story involves an extreme dieting conspiracy where the fat is harvested from obese Britons to make babies for beings from another thingy and when the fat-babies are animated globules that leap from the back-fat of women in pubs … you can see how that sort of material might not benefit from the inclusion of a wild-eyed redhead who makes Lucille Ball look shy. This week they go to Rome - well, Pompeii - on "volcano day", as the Doctor so succinctly points out. It leans heavily towards Carry On Up The Toga territory.'Tim Hunter though praises Tate's 'down-to-earth, no-nonsense attitude that keeps the Doctor on his Time Lord toes.' CitySearch and The Sydney Morning Herald also preview recent episodes.The Sydney Morning Herald has also reprinted the 'New York Times' interview with Russell T. Davies. MeanwhileChris Hook of The Daily Telegraph says 'with the Doctor on TV, everything else should pretty much stop' thoughMelinda Houston of The Sunday Age suggests 'there's a slight shadow falling across the reinvented Doctor Who. We got a taste of it at the conclusion to the last season – that is, the elevation of the Doctor to some kind of godhead, often at the expense of irreverence and therefore its (and his) charm.'

Thanks to contributors to the Australian forums