In an interview with Russell T. Davies, the Los Angeles Timesmentions in passing that The Sarah Jane Adventures will be broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel beginning in April.

The article also states that Doctor Who's next season will begin on Sci Fi in April. The BBC has not announced a broadcast date for Series Four in the UK, but the program will air in Britain before any international broadcasts.

In the Los Angeles Times interview, Davies also talks about the success of Doctor Who, his attitude towards sexuality on Torchwood and past projects such as Bob and Rose.

He also notes that he deliberately keeps organized fandom at arm's length: "I think we're an unusual science-fiction franchise in taking a very big step back from fandom and having nothing to do with them. . . . Every program on the BBC has a message board on the website. I forbid it to happen on 'Doctor Who.' I'm sorry to say this, all the science fiction producers making stuff in America, they are way too engaged with their fandom. They all need to step back."

Episode three of Torchwood, To the Last Man, scored an Appreciation Index figure of 85, once more putting it in the excellent category. It was the BBC's second highest figure for the day.

The edited repeat was watched by 1.1 million viewers, according to overnight figures, a 4.8% share of the total audience. Torchwood Declassifiedalso got 1.1 million viewers. These figures are slightly higher than the actual overnights as they include Scotland and Northern Ireland where Torchwood was not shown.

Doctor Who

The South Wales Evening Post reports that Doctor Who is filming at a disused library in Swansea. This filming is forSteven Moffat's two-part story, which involves a mysterious abandoned library.

The estate of Terry Nation, the writer who created the Daleks, has vetoed a humorous clip featuring a Dalek from being included on the forthcoming "Five Doctors" DVD. The clip, from a 1983 edition of BBC Breakfast, featured a Dalek being interviewed by astrologer Russell Grant, to the amusement of Peter Davison and Patrick Troughton. However, the Nation estate has forbidden the use of the clip, fearing that it detracts from the Daleks' threatening image.The Sun and Metro both carry the story.

Torchwood

Burn Gorman talks to iF Magazine about his character Owen Harper. "I hope that in series two he's a changed man," says Gorman.

The Daily Mirror published a detailed preview of "To the Last Man" before it aired in the UK on Wednesday, andDigital Spy has a review.

Digital Spy also has an article about the Torchwood interactive adventure hosted on bbc.co.uk/torchwood.

The South Wales Echo has a story on Torchwood's ratings success.

People

The Arran Banner, the newspaper of the Scottish Isle of Arran, has found a 16-year-old David Tennant in its archives. Young Tennant was on Arran 20 years ago filming a short play for the children's series Dramarama. The article is accompanied by a small picture.

Christopher Eccleston was one of three judges for BBC Four's Pioneer World Cinema Award 2008. The award was given to the dark Spanish-language fantasy "Pan's Labyrinth"; Variety and Digital Spy have the story.

Another award panel, this one for the Red Planet Prize (awarded by Tony Jordan's Red Planet Pictures for new writing talent in the UK), was composed of Jordan, Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner, Doctor Who actor and writer Mark Gatiss and polymath Stephen Fry (who appeared in the Doctor Who webcast "Death Comes to Time" and was scheduled to write a script for Doctor Who Series Two before scheduling commitments forced him to withdraw). The Stage covers the award.

New Car Net recalls Third Doctor Jon Pertwee's road safety public service film with the unforgettable slogan "Splink". (If you don't know what "Splink" means, there's an old story with video on the BBC News site.)

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has rejected two complaints about risqué advertisements for Billie Piper's ITV2 series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl". The ASA ruled that the poster, which featured Piper wearing a bra and panties, was "not dissimilar to that which children would be exposed to in other advertising, for example for lingerie and designer fragrances." The ruling can be read here; Brand Republic has a story (but requires free registration to read it).

The Daily Mail finds it newsworthy to have a photographer follow Billie Piper and her husband Laurence Fox while they're grocery shopping and walking the dog.

Digital Spy has a story culled from John Barrowman's recently published autobiography "Anything Goes", in which Barrowman compares working withChristopher Eccleston and David Tennant. In the book, Barrowman writes: "I found the set to be a lighter one with David than it had been with Christopher in the lead role. I think David is a happier person, whereas I found Chris to be a bit angsty." (Digital Spy miscorrects "angsty" to "angry".)

There are reviews of "Anything Goes" at Country Life magazine and the Daily Telegraph.

TV Guide has published the second half of its interview with James Marsters; there's less about his Torchwood role here, but Marsters speaks about other roles he's playing.

Leftist Internet magazine Spiked has cited Ofcom's investigation into complaints about Catherine Tate's Christmas special as an example of "institutionalized prudishness", and notes that the 28 people who complained about the special represent 0.0004375% of the program's audience.

And This Is Hampshire has an interview with comedian Toby Hadoke, creator of "Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf".

(Thanks to Andrew Brookes, Sean Elliott and Ben Rawson-Jones.)

unofficial overnight figures give Episode Three, To The Last Man, an audience of 3.2 million viewers, which was a 13% share of the total television audience.

The programme was the highest rated on BBC2 for the day, comfortably ahead of Masterchef which got 2.6 million viewers.

The programme is repeated in an edited version on BBC2 Thursday evening and is available to UK viewers for the next seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

(NB: Torchwood is not repeated on BBC Two Scotland or on BBC Two Northern Ireland, nor is Torchwood Declassified, which follows the repeats elsewhere, shown on either of those channels. With thanks to Jeanette Napier for pointing this out.)

Posted By John Bowman

A new 90-second trailer for Series Four will start showing at cinemas across the UK from February 1, it has been reported.

According to Digital Spy, it will run at Empire, Odeon and Cineworld venues.

Naomi Gibney, the head of marketing at BBC Vision, is quoted as saying: "This is a great opportunity for the BBC to reach new audiences with an exciting preview of the new series of Doctor Who."

Trailers for Voyage Of The Damned were shown at cinemas in December.

UPDATE: The BBC Press Office has now put online more details concerning the trailer. It says the deal is part of a BBC test with Carlton Screen Advertising to showcase BBC content. It covers 837 Odeon screens, 736 Cineworld screens and 142 Empire screens. The trailer will be shown before some of the most anticipated new releases, including Cloverfield,Juno, John Rambo and There Will Be Blood.

Figures released by BARB show that the first episode of Series Two,Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, achieved an official rating of 4.22 millionviewers.

Final ratings are more accurate than the initial overnights and include those who record the programme and watch it within a week.

The programme was the most watched on BBC2 for the week, beating the second placed Wonderland by a million viewers. So far the episode is the second most watched programme on the channel for the year.

Posted By John Bowman

The new edition of Doctor Who Adventures - published in the UK on January 31 - is running a competition to create a monster for its comic strip.

The winner will appear with their creation in an exclusive comic strip in a future issue.

Editor Moray Laing said: "We can't wait to see loads of new monsters! From the letters and drawings we get, we know how much Doctor Who Adventures readers enjoy drawing pictures of the many creatures that appear in the series.

"But with this great new comp, readers get the chance to create their very own - plus the winner will appear in an exclusive comic strip story along with their yucky monster!"

Also in issue number 49:

News: The winner of the life-size Dalek competition is revealed
Fact file: The Fifth Doctor
Tales from the TARDIS: Debbie Chazen (Foon van Hoff in Voyage of the Damned) reveals her favourite scene from the Christmas special
Activity: Learn how to stomp like a Judoon and make your own special Judoon scanner
Comic strip: Part two of Hot Metal
Secrets: How the Doctor jumped through a mirror on a horse
Doctor's Data: The Futurekind
Exclusive posters: Martha and the Scarecrows, the Fifth and Tenth Doctors, and Morvin and Foon

Doctor Who Adventures issue 49 comes with a free monster pencil and eraser set featuring the Daleks and the Weeping Angels.

The British Board of Film Classification, the UK regulatory agency for film and video, has passed "Voyage of the Damned" for DVD release and rated it PG. The Christmas special was passed without cuts; the BBFC's consumer advice is that the special "contains moderate threat and scary scenes".

The 25th Anniversary Edition of "The Five Doctors" has also been passed and rated PG. The previous DVD of "The Five Doctors" was rated U.

UK release of "The Five Doctors - 25th Anniversary Edition" is scheduled for March 3. "Voyage of the Damned" is scheduled for release on March 10.

Inmates at the Woodford Correctional Centre have created a full size, ride-in Dalek to be auctioned off. Proceeds are going to support the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane. The inmates were helped by Mike Burrell, Trade Instructor from Woodford Correctional Centre.

"It took six months of occasional time when we were in between production" says Burrell. "It was made mostly out of ply but there are a lot of technical difficulties. Ply's flat and most of the Dalek is round and lumpy so it was difficult. It was set up to help them with their skills and technical abilities." The dimensions of the Dalek are 1.6m high, 1.3m front to back, and 0.8m wide. It's on wheels for easy transportation and can fit through a standard sized door.

ABC Brisbane reporter Brooke Carrigan was allowed an inside look at the finished product. "I'm inside the Dalek. And then you look up and it's got this voice-altering mechanism" Carrigan explains. "I can push and pull all these things and if you lift your feet up, we've actually been cruising through the children's hospital here, up and down the hallways".

Tegan Jones, Director of Fundraising and Development at Royal Children's Hospital, encourages fans to log onto E-bay to see the finished product. The auction closes on Friday, February 8th.


Thank you to Luke Bartolo and ABC Brisbane for the information.

Doctor Who

Doctor Who had been nominated for the The South Bank Show Awards, but lost to Channel 4's Iraq War drama "The Mark of Cain". BBC News has the story.

The Doctor Who episode "Gridlock" has been nominated for the Epiphany Prize, an award given by the conservative Christian media organization Movieguide. The Epiphany Prizes "seek to create a deeper spiritual awareness in mankind and increase man's love and understanding of God" and are awarded to "popular, entertaining movies and television programs which are wholesome, uplifting, inspirational, redemptive, and moral." "Gridlock" is up against the TV movies "Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story", "Saving Sarah Cain" and "The Valley of Light", and an episode of the animated Christian children's series "Friends and Heroes". Variety has a story about the nomination.

The Aberdeen Press and Journal reports that Billie Piper has been welcomed into her husband Laurence Fox's family, according to his cousin Emilia Fox.

And Colin Baker is endorsing a new Department of Transport scheme for anyone over 60 or disabled to have free bus travel during off-peak hours, reports the Bucks Free Press.

Torchwood

BostonNOW reviews the Torchwood first season DVD (calling the series "thoroughly entertaining").

The Daily Record has more excerpts from John Barrowman's autobiography, "Anything Goes", including Barrowman discussing his casting as Jack Harkness.

Doctor Who and Torchwood writer Helen Raynor speaks to the South Wales Echo about her work on the series. She tells the newspaper, "Sometimes I can get a bit precious about my work but that's healthy, the minute you get complacent about your work you're dead in the water."

The Herald has a rather tongue-in-cheek preview of "To the Last Man", which will air in the UK on Wednesday and in the US on February 9.

And last, Guardian Unlimited discusses the Torchwood alternate reality game, which is available (to UK users only)here.

(Thanks to "Caffeinejunkie", "PolyG" and "admiratio" of the Doctor Who Forum.)