Unofficial figures show that the BBC2 showing of Torchwood Episode 8, A Day in the Death was watched by 2.7 millionviewers, a 11.7% shareof the total TV audience.

The programme was the most watched of the day on BBC2, beating Eggheads, and the 19th most watched on British television for the day. The episode had its premier on the digital channel BBC3 last week, where it was watched by 1.05 million viewers.

Episode Nine, Something Borrowed was watched by 0.81 million viewers on BBC3, making it the highest rated programme on BBC3 for the day, and giving it a 4.9% share of the total audience.

Episodes of Doctor Who that were originally colour but now only exist in black and white could be restored to their former glory.

In a major piece headlined Putting colour back in the Doctor's cheeks, today's Guardian reports how the colour recovery process has been made possible thanks to an error by technicians when 16mm black-and-white film recordings were made from the original colour master tapes for overseas sales before the masters were purged.

These telerecordings were liable to interference from the colour-encoded video signal, and this pattern of grey dots - called chromadots - would normally be eliminated with a filter.

However, filters were not always used, meaning the chromadots were often burnt into the film, and while at BBC Research engineer James Inselltheorised that it was possible to extract the original colour pattern and decode it.

Insell, who subsequently set up an independent group to work on the technology, points out in the article: "The quality of the film has got to be good enough to have captured this pattern. We're really talking about working from the original negatives and having an HD scan made to get as much information as possible from the film."

The piece stresses that this is not colourisation, whereby colour reference material is used or colour is invented. It quotes Insell as saying: "In the colour recovery process, what you get out are the original colours."

Such is the potential that software for large-scale colour recovery is being developed, and he adds: "BBC Worldwide is obviously quite interested in releasing archive content, notably with Doctor Who and various programmes like that."

Insell also worked on the reverse standards conversion process, which was used to great effect on various DVD releases, such as The Claws of Axos.

(With thanks to Tony Clark and Luke McCullough.)

Final figures released by BARB give Episode Six of Torchwood,Reset, a final rating of 3.22 million viewers, making it the channels 5th most watched programme of the week. Reset was first shown on BBC3 the previous week.

Episode Seven, Dead Man Walking received 1.01 million for its premier on BBC3, and was the second most watched programme on the channel for the week.

This month's Doctor Who Magazine comes with a complete new Doctor Who audio adventure.

Cuddlesome is a brand new adventure for the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, co-starring Roberta Taylor, Timothy West, and David Troughton. "It's about a dastardly plot to infect the world," says Peter, "because someone was nasty to someone when they were young! It's a nice idea, toys are the perfect way to get to the population. Evil!"

Also this issue, DWM counts down the 100 Greatest Doctor Who Death Scenes of All Time! Doctor Who’s current executive producer Russell T Daviesleads the comments on the programme’s most memorably morbid moments. Speaking about the battle between the Raston Warrior Robot and the Cybermen in 1983’s The Five Doctors, Russell enthuses, "Best. Massacre. Ever. Heads go flying! Arms! Guts! On Children in Need night! We should really bring those Rastons back one day, they were brilliant" Terrance Dicks agrees, as the writer of the story, "there’ll be a few quid in it for me!"

Meanwhile, writer Steven Moffat is full of praise for Pete Tyler’s death in 2005’s Father’s Day "just chilling, and tragic and unforgettable" while fellow scribe Paul Cornell raves over Harrison Chase’s grisly demise in 1976’s The Seeds of Doom – "Just gorgeous. Apt and relishable. One of the absolute best Doctor Who deaths."

Also in DWM 393: "30 Reasons to be excited about Series 30" – with new photos from the new series! Martha Jones, alias Freema Agyeman answers questions from the dreaded TARDIS tin" and script-writer Gareth Roberts reveals how the Doctor and Donna are set to meet Agatha Christie, as he discusses his forthcoming adventure, The Unicorn and the Wasp.

The Fact of Fiction uncovers the truth behind 1066 and all that as it examines The Time Meddler while Novice Hame actress Anna Hope speaks about her new Doctor Who audio role. Nightmarish creatures fill the final chilling chapter of full colour comic strip Universal Monsters and Russell T Davies extols the new-found virtues of an oft-neglected Tom Baker tale.

Neil Harris bemoans the ‘worst story ever’ in You Are Not Alone and The Time Team find that it’s grim up north as they watch The Mark of the Rani.

DWM 393 is out in the United Kingdom on 6 March 2008.

Nominations for the Royal Television Society awards have been announced. Included in the list are:

Best Drama Series: Doctor Who
Best Actor: David Tennant (Recovery/Doctor Who)
Best Children's Drama: The Sarah Jane Adventures

The awards will be presented on Wednesday 19th March 2008. A full list of nominees is available on the RTS website.

Episode seven of Torchwood, Dead Man Walking , scored an Appreciation Index figure of 86, once more putting it in the excellent category. It was highest figure for the day on the four main channels.

The edited repeat was watched by 0.9 million viewers, according to overnight figures, a 4.3% share of the total audience. Torchwood Declassifiedgot 1.4 million viewers. These figures are slightly higher than the actual overnights as they include Scotland and Northern Ireland where Torchwood was not shown.

Posted By John Bowman

A special party with star guests possibly in tow is to be held in London the night Series Four starts - and readers of this page could be joining in the fun.

The free event is being organised by Doctor Who historian Jeremy Bentham, who has 100 tickets up for grabs.

Very much an informal occasion, similar parties that he has held for the start of the previous three series have proved hugely popular - last year's, for instance, saw just under 1,400 applications for tickets.

Bentham said: "We will be showing Partners In Crime, plus any other related Doctor Who programmes that are on that day, live on a big-screen plasma projection system with full surround sound - and who knows who else may drop in to join the fun and festivities?"

Among the star names at last year's party was Nicholas Courtney. Pictured at the event is a Dalek built by prop-maker Julian Vince, who also supplied a police box that materialised during the day.

This year's party will start at 3pm and finish late. A cash bar and full food menu will be available throughout the afternoon and evening, plus from 10pm onwards there will be free admission to the venue's nightclub.

Bentham said: "A draw for the tickets will take place three weeks before the confirmed series launch date, which is currently expected to be one of the Saturdays in early to mid-April."

And he stressed: "Please only apply for tickets if you know for sure that you'll be available to come to London for the party whenever Series Four starts. Alternatively, please state any Saturday dates when you will not be able to come, so that I can ensure tickets go out to those who can definitely make it."

Party hopefuls should send a postcard stating their full name, address, daytime contact number and the number of tickets they would like (maximum of two) to: DW Launch Party 2008, 13 Northfield Road, Boreham Wood, Herts, WD6 5AE.

All party entrants must be aged at least 18 and no admission will be allowed without a valid ticket. Winners will be notified by post during the week following the draw.

Unofficial figures show that the BBC2 showing of Torchwood Episode 7, Dead Man Walking was watched by 3.0 million viewers, a12.5% share of the total TV audience.

The programme was the second most watched of the day on BBC2, being beaten by Masterchef and the 18th most watched on British television for the day. The episode had its premier on the digital channel BBC3 last week, where it was watched by 0.9 million viewers.

Episode Eight, A Day in the Death was watched by 1.05 millionviewers on BBC3, making it the highest rated programme on all multichannel TV for the day, and giving it a 5.7% share of the total audience.

BARB has released final ratings for the week ending 17th February, giving Episode Five of Torchwood,Adam, an official rating of 3.79 millionviewers.

This, once more, makes Torchwood the highest rated programme on BBC2 for the week beating University Challenge into second place.

The BBC3 premier of Episode Six, Reset got a final rating of 0.85 million viewers. It was the 5th highest rated programme on BBC3 for the week.

Posted By John Bowman

The forthcoming DVD release of Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time will have CGI effects as optional extras.

The British Board of Film Classification today passed a total of 33 effects for the six-part adventure, comprising three for episode one, five for episode two, five for episode three, nine for episode four, three for episode five, and eight for episode six.

As well as the mini-documentaries The Elusive David Agnew and The Rise and Fall of Gallifrey, reported earlier this month by this site, today's announcement stated that the DVD would also have a "making of" mini-documentary entitled Out of Time plus an Easter Egg.

A date for the DVD's release has yet to be announced.