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.

Torchwood Magazine has announced the titles of the final episodes of the current season.

Episode 8 - A Day in the Death by Joe Lidster
Episode 9 - Something Borrowed by Phil Ford
Episode 10 - From Out of the Rain by PJ Hammond
Episode 11 - Adrift by Chris Chibnail
Episode 12 - Fragments by Chris Chibnail
Episode 13 - Exit Wounds by Chris Chibnail

Viewers in Scotland can now see the pre-watershed version of Torchwood on Tuesday evenings at 7pm.

It has been confirmed that the Peter Davison story Black Orchid will be released in the UK on 14th April 2008.

This week's issue of Doctor Who Adventures looks at the heroes of Doctor Who. You can read about ten of the bravest people the Doctor has met. Everyone from Mickey Smith and Bannakaffalatta to Martha and Rose. But who do you think is the top hero?

There's also the chance to win tickets to a new London Doctor Who Exhibition in Earl's Court plus posters of Martha Jones, Sally Sparrow and a Weeping Angel and the Doctor and Astrid.

In "Tales from the TARDIS", Astrid saves the Earth but the Doctor loses a friend and "The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who" features The Rise of the Cybermen to The Satan Pit

The Quiz asks "what kind of hero are you?" and you can learn how to draw Bannakaffalatta the little red cyborg. The comic strip is "The Old Kings of Skarab" part 2.

Doctor Who Adventures issue 53, is out in the UK on Thursday 28 February.

The Guardian has confirmed that BBC Four is planning a tribute night to Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert, who died last year.

The evening, which is planned for April, will feature a new documentary looking back at Lambert's work, including her pivotal role in setting up Doctor Who.

Those who have already filmed interviews for the documentary include the former Channel 4 chief executive Jeremy Isaacs. Other figures who are thought to be in the frame to feature include the Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies and Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies.

Thanks to Luke McCullough

Posted By John Bowman

Events

Colin Baker will be returning to Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent - the filming location for The Ultimate Foe section of The Trial of a Time Lord - on Sunday, May 18. This was where he filmed his last two episodes as the Doctor. Davros actor Terry Molloy will also be there. More details can be found at Colin Baker Online.

Interviews

Comic Book Resources has an interview with Pia Guerra, who is an artist for IDW Publishing's Doctor Who comic.

Newsarama has had a chat with Burn Gorman, while iF Magazine currently has the first part of a two-part interview with Naoko Mori.

Freema Agyeman's 23-minute appearance on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 5 Live show on February 20 is available to download as a podcast here until February 27.

John Barrowman and Freema Agyeman have been speaking to BBC Oxford.

Merchandise

ComicMix has a piece about Doctor Who Minimates finally being approved for production by Underground Toys, namely David Tennant's Doctor, Martha Jones and Cybermen.

DVDs

The Patrick Troughton ten-part epic The War Games is being prepared for DVD release. Both the Eastbourne Herald and The Argus in Brighton carried appeals from the Restoration Team this week for people to come forward with reminiscences, photos, etc, for accompanying features.

Covers for the 25th anniversary edition of The Five Doctors have been released. There appear to be two versions of the front. Click on the thumbnails below for larger versions. The DVD is out in the UK on March 3.

(With thanks to Rob Cope, Shane Williams, Steven Stearns, Adrian Behennah, Iain Campbell, Jonathan Barlow, Carl T Davies, Matt Evenden, Tim Bowers, Richard Harwood, and 'spiderfrommars'.)

Wednesday's BBC2 showing of Episode Six of Torchwood, Reset, was watched by an audience of 2.8 millionviewers, which was an 11.1% share of the total television audience. This episode had received its premiere on BBC3 the previous week, when it received an overnight of 807,000 viewers.

Episode Six of Torchwood Declassified (which, for the first time this year had its premiere on Wednesday, immediately after Reset) received an overnight figure of 1.6 million viewers.

Episode Seven, Dead Man Walking, received its first showing on BBC3 this week, where it got an overnight audience of 0.9 million.

Meanwhile, final figures released by BARB gave Episode Four, Meat an official rating of 3.2 million viewers, making it the second most watched programme on BBC2 for the week.

Finally, the AI figure for last week’s Adam was 85, while both the BBC3 premiere and the BBC2 showing of Resetscored 87, the highest score of the series to date.

Posted By John Bowman

The new edition of Doctor Who Adventures - out today - has an inflatable Dalek on the cover as a free gift.

Plenty of monster shocks are promised inside issue number 52 as well, including seeing what the original Cybermen looked like. Plus:

The Ultimate Guide to Series Two, part one: The Christmas Invasion to The Girl in the Fireplace
Tales from the Tardis: Things heat up in a scene from 42
Secrets: The making of Max Capricorn
Comic strip: The Old Kings of Skarab, part one
Doctor's Data: Jackie Tyler
Make: A Tardis toy box
Posters: The Titanic crew, the inside of the Tardis, the Doctor, Cybermen, and Professor Yana.

The BBC have issued a press release reporting on the success of their online iPlayer service.

The report shows the Christmas special Voyage of the Damned as the most watched programme on the service since Christmas Day, with the first threeTorchwood episodes coming in at 3rd, 5th and 10th places respectively (data up to 12th February).

The article reports that the iPlayer service is now reaching up to 500,000 visits a day, with some 17 million programmes watched over its first seven weeks of operation.

Additional information thanks to Scott Matthewman from The Stage.