In contrast to the past several years' episodes, the closing credits of the season finale "Journey's End" today in the UK did NOT feature a title for the forthcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who... only the cryptic phrase "Return of the Cybermen". That's likely not the title for the next story; when it's announced we'll bring it to you. It's been known for at least two months that the Cybermen would play a part in the next transmitted episode.

Meanwhile, to avoid spoiling any surprises for our readers, we will refrain from mentioning anything on the News Page about the state of affairs at the end of the story. "Journey's End" airs in America in less than a month, and the fourth series is also now currently airing in Australia.

Telos Publishing has announced several new titles for 2008, and among them are the latest in their range of unofficial and unauthorised non-fiction guides toDOCTOR WHO and TORCHWOOD.

MONSTERS WITHIN is by Stephen James Walker and continues the story of DOCTOR WHO from the 2007 Christmas Special through the end of Series Four. The book is a detailed viewer's guide to the build-up and background to the show, as well as factual analysis and review of all the episodes. MONSTERS WITHIN will be published in December 2008.

SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS is Stephen James Walker's follow up to the bestselling INSIDE THE HUB and looks at the second series of the DOCTOR WHO spin off TORCHWOOD. Like the DOCTOR WHO guide it delves into the background and production of the show and subjects all the episodes to critical review and analysis. SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS will be published in August 2008.

Big Finish Productions has recently announced that their Companion Chronicles line will go from being a mini-series to an ongoing monthly range starting in July. The series will continue to be released in "seasons" with each season comprising of twelve releases. Each release is a new Doctor Who story as told by one of the Doctor's companions played by the actor who portrayed the role in the Classic Doctor Who TV series.

July's release is a First Doctor adventure narrated by Carole Ann Ford as the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan. The story, entitled Here There be Monsters, has been written by Andy Lane. In the adventure, the Doctor, Barbara, Susan and Ian face creatures from another dimension.

August sees The Great Space Elevator, written by Jonathan Morris, featuring Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield in an adventure with the Second Doctor where a one-way trip leads to a confrontation with an alien force that threatens the Earth.

September's release is The Doll of Death by Marc Platt, an adventure for the Third Doctor told by Katy Manning as Jo Grant. This is the first time that Katy has reprised her role since she starred in the TV series in the 1970s.

The fourth adventure, Empathy Games by Nigel Fairs features the Fourth Doctor’s companion, Leela played by Louise Jameson.

November's release for the First Doctor features Sara Kingdom who originally joined the TARDIS crew for the epic length TV story, The Daleks' Master Plan. As in the original TV series, Sara Kingdom will once again be played by Jean Marsh. The story, entitled Home Truths, has been written by Simon Guerrier.

With the expansion of the releases, the series will now include tales from Companions to Doctors 5 through 8, as well as tales from characters who are not strictly companions. Already confirmed to be appearing later on in the range are Mary Tamm (Romana I), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), and Sophie Aldred (Ace).

The actress Elizabeth Spriggs, who guest starred as Tabby in the 1987 Seventh Doctor serial Paradise Towers, has died at the age of 78. She appeared in many roles on stage and television for over fifty years, including performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Spriggs was particularly well-known for her role as Nan in "Shine On Harvey Moon", and was well-loved by children for her starring role in the 1980s Children's BBC series "Simon and the Witch".

The Daily Telegraph has published an obituary.

Thanks to Chris Winwood and Matthew Kilburn

The build-up to tonight's series finale of Doctor Who has continued unabated across the BBC and other British media sources during Saturday.

2005 Doctor Who Mastermindwinner Karen Davies and Doctor Who Adventures editor Moray Laing appeared on BBC One's "Breakfast" news programme this morning, to discuss their thoughts on the finale. Throughout the programme, this feature was trailed with a sequence of clips showing all ten Doctors. Over on BBC Radio 2, Tim Smith was taking text message and e-mail suggestions from listeners on who should be the next Doctor during his early morning show. Various names were suggested, such as comedian Billy Connolly, and many listeners also contacted Smith to correct him after he erroneously gave out the episode's start time as five forty. The BBC News website (pictured) has made the excitement surrounding the finale the top story in their entertainment news section.

Journalist Andrew Billen asks if "time has finally run out for coolest man on TV" in The Times. Elsewhere in the same paper, long-time Doctor Who supporter Caitlin Moran ponders the speculation surrounding who the next Doctor might be. The same newspaper's TV previewer, David Chater, complains bitterly about not having been given a preview disc for the episode: "If the Daleks have conquered Earth, the Tardis has been destroyed and the Doctor is immobilised, the last thing anyone wants is news leaking out in the press. Think of the effect on public morale." The Times have also spotlighted a feature from their archives, a 1975 article reporting how Doctor Who has been blamed for an epidemic of spider fears among children.

The Daily Mirror has an interview with Russell T Davies, where he comments on how few people have seen tonight's epispde: "The Controller of BBC1 has not even seen it, or the Head of Drama, because it's been locked away. But I have seen it about 15 times." Even the Mirror's sports section gets in on the act, running the odds on possible contenders for the role of the Eleventh Doctor on their betting page.

In The Independent, Deborah Orr comments that: "It's OK to be scared by Doctor Who, though. Or lately, simply in awe of him." The Daily Telegraphhave brought together all their recent Doctor Who content into a special mini-site, and their print edition features Davros on the cover of their TV listings supplement. The South Wales Echo looks at the curious practice of fans calling the Doctor's mobile phone number, as displayed in last Saturday's episode.

The TV Shows on DVD website has provided a preview of the latest announced DVDs for the North American market, both due in October: The Trial of a Time Lord Boxed Set, starring Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Bonnie Langford, and The Brain of Morbius starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. The box covers for the North America (US/Canada) releases are below; click on each for a larger version. (A new version of the "Morbius" disc release has now been uploaded). The "Trial of a Time Lord" set (four discs) includes commentaries by C. Baker, Bryant, Tony Selby (Glitz), script editor Eric Saward, writers Pip & Jane Baker, director Chris Clough and others, as well as "Making Of" featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, interview features, trailers, news coverage and documentaries (and even the famous "Doctor in Distress" music video!) The "Morbius" disc includes commentaries by T. Baker, Sladen, Philip Madoc (Solon), director Christopher Barry and producer Philip Hinchcliffe, a short documentary, trailers and photos.
Recent North America releases (in case you haven't picked them up) included "The Time Warrior" and "Timelash" in April, "Planet of Evil" and "Destiny of the Daleks" before that in March, and "Torchwood: The Complete First Series" back in January.
With thanks to the Doctor Who DVD FAQ.

The British media has gone into Doctor Whooverdrive in recent days, with a frenzy of comment, speculation and analysis across all kinds of outlets on television, radio, the internet and in print. As the week has gone on the avalanche of coverage ahead of tomorrow's climactic finale to series four has continued to build, and the excitement shows no sign of dying down yet.

This evening, BBC One's main early evening news bulletin, the Six O'Clock News, carried a report from entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba, looking at the secrecy surrounding tomorrow night's episode. It featured a short new clip from the episode, as well as comments from Freema Agyeman - who said friends had been texting her about the series, and people on the street had been asking her about the episode all week - and Russell T Davies. Following the showing of the report, the weatherman commented that this Saturday's rainy weather would be suitable for staying indoors and watching Doctor Who!

Davies is interviewed in text and in video on the BBC News website, answering questions from viewers and commenting on the secrecy surrounding the finale. In the former he reveals that he has no plans to write for the series under Steven Moffat's control - "I think Steven's more than his own man. He doesn't need me at all. I won't write for it in the future. I'm done with it" - while in the latter he extols the virtues of keeping plot details secret from the press, and comments on how the degree of excitement surrounding the cliffhanger ending to last week's episode has taken him somewhat by surprise! The subject of just how the production team have managed to keep the ending to the series a secret is studied in another piece by Lizo Mzimba on the BBC News site.

Concurrently with the BBC One Six O'Clock news, the series finale was also a topic on the BBC's flagship radio news programme, the Radio 4 news at six o'clock. This was then immediately followed by the comedy series The Now Show, one of the team behind which is fan and Doctor Who Forum regular Mitch Benn, which again mentioned the impending finale. And this was by no means the only BBC radio coverage of the day - producer Phil Collinson discussed the series on this morning's edition of Five Live Breakfast. Meanwhile, over on BBC television's breakfast programming, Freema Agyeman appeared as a guest on BBC One's "Breakfast".

All of this media promotion has not been limited to the BBC, however. On ITV1, Sylvester McCoy was a guest on the early morning GMTV programme, while later on in the morning Russell T Davies was a guest on the "This Morning" sofa. A particularly entertaining passage ensued when a clip was shown of Davies presenting the young children's programme "Playschool" in 1987! He answered various questions sent in by viewers, but refused to give away any information about tomorrow night's episode. Later on, in the early evening, a discussion of the series was a major feature of "Richard and Judy", the popular Channel 4 chat and lifestyle programme.

The print media has been no less enthusiastic in discussing the series ahead of Saturday. The Daily Telegraph newspaper, in particular, seems to have become something of a Doctor Who fanzine in recent days, publishing features on The Ten Greatest Doctor Who Stories, a Q&A with their resident "Doctor Who expert", a piecespeculating about the fates of various characters, an article explaining how Doctor Who is "Britain's favourite alien", a feature about reinventing Davros, and a piece generally celebrating the excellence of the series.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail wonders who the best Doctor is, as well as claiming that Doctor Who fever is sweeping the nation. Jane Graham blogs for The Guardian about Doctor Who helping to teach children about empathy and tragedy. The Bournemouth Echo interviews local boy Julian Bleach. And last but not least, What's On Stagefeatures David Tennant and Catherine Tate on its cover.

Many thanks to PolyG and all on the Doctor Who Forum media thread, without whom...

With the grand finale of Series Four of Doctor Who only days away, fans are being given two chances to ask questions of chief writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, as the final full series to be overseen by him draws to a close.

The BBC News website will be publishing a question-and-answer feature with Davies at the weekend, and is currently inviting readers to submit questions to be put to him.

Davies will be appearing on ITV1's "This Morning" on Friday, and the programme is also inviting the public to submit questions. Questions can be submitted by e-mailing thismorning@itv.com

The Broadcast Audience Research Board(BARB), the company that compiles television ratings data in the UK, has today published final viewing figures for the week ending Sunday 22nd June. Final figures are more accurate than the initial overnight ratings, and include those who recorded a programme and watched it within the week of transmission.

The figures show that episode eleven of the current series, Turn Left, had a final viewing figure of 8.09 million for its debut showing on Saturday night on BBC One. This is over a million viewers higher than the initial overnight figure, and means the episode finished in 4th place in the most-watched programmes across all channels for the week. This is the highest chart placing ever gained by a regular series episode of Doctor Who, beaten only by the 2nd place finish of last year's Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned.

The BBC Three Sunday night repeat of the episode gained 915,000 viewers, finishing fourth for the week out of all BBC Three programmes.

Full ratings data, including data for iPlayer downloads, can be found in the Doctor Who Forum.

Episode Twelve of Series Four, The Stolen Earth has received a record breaking Audience Appreciation figure of 91. This is not only the highest score the programme has ever received, but is one of the highest figures ever achieved for a mainstream television programme.

Sunday's football was the most watched programme of the week making Saturday's Doctor Who the 8th in the list. This position may rise when corrected figures, including numbers for those recording the programme, are released by BARB in 9 days' time.

Sunday's BBC3 repeat got an overnight audience of0.78 million viewers. It was a 3.4% share of the multi-channel audience and the most watched programme on all multi-channel TV for Sunday.

Saturday's edition of Doctor Who Confidential was watched by 1.13 million viewers. The programme, which had a share of 6.8 %, was the most watched on multi-channel television on Saturday with double the audience of the second placed Poirot. The Sunday repeat had 0.53 million watching.