People

Hello! magazine's readers have voted David Tennant the third most attractive man, after Sean Bean and Hugh Laurie.

Catherine Tate spoke to the Toronto Star about her comedy series and her return to Doctor Who as Donna Noble. "What's great about doing Doctor Who is that it has a narrative, so it means that I can approach it more as a straight acting role," says Tate. "It's just nicer to have a story arc that lasts longer than, like, four minutes."

Contactmusic.com quotes Russell T. Davies as saying that being gay helped give him "an edge" over other aspiring writers.

Eighth Doctor Paul McGann was one of the celebrities on hand for the official opening of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture, reports theLiverpool Echo.

And Johnny Depp has denied rumors that he was seeking a role on Doctor Who, reports Teletext. (The story is no longer available on Teletext's website.)

Torchwood

Several news sources have published reviews of Torchwood's second series debut, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". These includeThe Times ("good, salacious knockabout fun"), The Times again ("funny, fast and daring"), The Daily Telegraph("leaden gags" and "a fantastically ungripping plot") and The Guardian ("parts of it were very, very funny").

American media are also covering the series ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" will debut on BBC America on Saturday, January 26); the Los Angeles Times calls the series "grown-up, dark, energetic and sometimes hard to keep track of." TheOrlando Sentinel (Florida), The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel(Wisconsin), the Akron Beacon-Journal (Ohio), the Erie News-Times (Pennsylvania) and the Fresno Bee(California) all report on the second series debut and/or Tuesday's DVD release of the first series.

The Huddersfield Examiner has an interview with John Barrowman.

The South Wales Echo has excerpts from an interview Eve Myles gave to Iconz magazine, in which she speaks of her love for Cardiff.

James Marsters' girlfriend enjoyed watching him kiss John Barrowman, according to The Sun andcontactmusic.com.

Miscellany

An article in The Sunday Times about the state of children's television in Britain quotes Russell T. Davies and notes that while television labelled as being for children is suffering, "family" programming like Doctor Who is thriving. Another column points to the success of Doctor Who as a model for adapting classic adventure novels to the screen.

Indeed, Doctor Who is such a success that BBC bosses are looking to apply its lessons beyond the realm of drama. In an interview with The Guardian BBC director general Mark Thompson used Doctor Who as an example of the sort of "creative energy" which the BBC should use in political coverage. Covering Thompson's remark, the Belfast Telegraphsuggested that BBC reporters covering Northern Ireland might already feel like time travelers.

Young Doctor Who fans in the Midlands can participate in a craft competition at the Stourport Library in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire. There are three age groups for the competition: ages 5 to 7, 8 to 10 and 11 to 13. Entrants can color a Doctor Who picture (available at the library) or make a Doctor Who-themed model. The Kidderminster Shuttlehas details of the competition.

The West Sussex Gazette has a feature article about classic Doctor Who filming in West Sussex.

The Doctor Who Up Close exhibition in Cardiff will be adding costumes from "Voyage of the Damned" to its collection, reports the Western Mail.

A columnist in The Scotsman notes that "apart from reality shows and similar swill, Doctor Who is the only programme that brings the nation together simultaneously: ironic, given that the Doctor is a Time Lord."

Technology website The Register describes a small flying robot being developed by the US military as a "proto-Dalek".

Doctor Who news shows up everywhere these days. Materials Handling World has a short article about the forklift featured in "Voyage of the Damned". No matter what your field is, there's nothing like a Doctor Who story to spice up your trade news, eh?

And the South Wales Echo has a story about a dad who built his kids a five-foot TARDIS replica to keep their toys in. Bless.

The Daily Star is reporting casting and plot information for Series Four which, if true, could be considered a spoiler. Some details are listed below, and more can be seen by following the link above. (Please note that the Daily Star's website has content which may not be suitable for all ages.)

(Thanks to Joey Donovan.)

The script for the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Blink" by Steven Moffat has been placed on the preliminary ballot for the Nebula Awards. The Nebula Awards are awarded yearly by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for the best science fiction written in the previous two years, using a system of "rolling eligibility". Moffat was nominated last year for his script for "The Girl in the Fireplace", but lost to the Hayao Miyazakianimated film "Howl's Moving Castle".

This year, the other entries for Best Script are the screenplays for the films "Children of Men", "The Prestige", "Pan's Labrynth" and "V for Vendetta"; an episode of the television anthology "Masters of Science Fiction" written by Harlan Ellison; and an episode of the fan-produced Internet series "Star Trek: The New Voyages".

CLARIFICATION: "Blink" is on the preliminary ballot, which is the first part of a two-stage voting process. The final ballot will be released in March.

(Thanks to Alex Frazer-Harrison.)

The Royal Shakespeare Company's recent production of King Lear, starring Sir Ian McKellan in the title role and featuring Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy as the Fool, was filmed for HDTV, reports www.theatermania.com.

The production began in its run at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 2007 before embarking on an international tour. It recently concluded its run in London's West End.

The show will be broadcast by American PBS stations in autumn and Channel 4 in December, in addition to being carried by a number of other international stations, such as NHK Japan. Plans are also in place to release the production on DVD internationally.

CORRECTION: Although theatermania.com reported that the production would be aired on "BBC Channel 4", this appears to be an error. The Stagereports that the adaptation was commissioned by Channel 4, not BBC4.

(Thanks to Ian Robinson for the correction.)

BBC Video has confirmed the April 1st North American release date for the classic series adventure Timelash, starringColin Baker as the Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri, and featuring a guest appearance of Blake's 7's Paul Darrow.
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BBC Radio Wales will air the first installment of Torchwood All Access on Saturday 19 January at 1:33PM GMT. This will be an infrequent behind the scenes show similar to "Doctor Who Back In Time". Julian Carey will host. The episode will be available on the Radio Wales website for one week after broadcast.

The first episode of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang scored an Appreciation Index figure of 84. The programme was one of the most appreciated of the day.

The Appreciation Index, or AI, is a measure of how much the audience liked the programme. It is a score out of 100, based on responses from a carefully selected panel. The average score for drama on BBC1 and ITV1 is 77. A score in excess of 85 is regarded as excellent while a score below 60 is poor.

An edited version of episode One, suitable for pre watershed viewing, will be shown on BBC2 on Wednesday 23rd January at 7pm. Meanwhile the unedited version is available to UK viewers for the next few days, via the BBC iplayer.

Posted By John Bowman

People

John Barrowman will be returning to the National Theatre on Monday, February 11 at 6pm for a 45-minute talk about his career. He will then sign his autobiography Anything Goes. Barrowman played Dumaine in Love's Labour's Lost and Billy Crocker in Anything Goes at the National.

Barrowman also has autobiography signings scheduled across England and Wales in January and February. OnThursday, January 24 he will be at theBirmingham branch of Waterstone's from 11am; on Tuesday, February 12 he will appear at Costco in Watford from 1pm. He will be signing at theBrighton branch of British Bookshops and Stationers on Wednesday, February 13 between 1pm and 2.30pm. On Thursday, February 14 Barrowman will be signing at the Waterstone's in Bluewater, Kent, from 5.30pm (the Kent News has coverage of this appearance). OnFriday, February 15 he will be signing at the Borders in Oxford from 5.30pm (noted in The Oxford Mail). OnSaturday, February 16 Barrowman will appear at the Borders inCardiff at 1pm. More details can be found onBarrowman's website.

Anneke Wills, who played companion Polly in the classic series, will be at the Who Blackpool TV memorabilia and toy store in Victoria Street onSaturday, January 26 from 11am for autographs and photos. A week later, on February 2, actor Eric Potts, who played Oliver Charles in Aliens of London, will be there for a similar session, again from 11am.

DVDs

tvshowsondvd.com reports an announcement by HBO Video that it will be releasing the Extras Christmas Special, which includes David Tennant in a spoof scene from Doctor Who, as an individual Region 1 disc on February 26.

Streaming

Voyage of the Damned was the most frequently streamed programme via the BBC iPlayer between Christmas Day and January 7, says the BBC Press Office. The Extras Christmas Special, with the previously mentioned brief Doctor Who spoof scene, was second favourite. More than 3.5 million programmes were streamed or downloaded by more than one million visitors to the site. Doctor Who's download success was mentioned by many UK news sources, including BBC News, The Guardian, Reuters, Screen Digest and ZDNet. The story was also reported Down Under bynews.com.au.

Merchandise

The new edition of SFX - number 167 - includes a seven-page feature on Torchwood. The magazine went on set during the filming of episode nine of Series Two. The piece includes interview quotes from Chris Chibnall, Richard Stokes,John Barrowman and Eve Myles, plus some exclusive on-set photography taken on the day.

In the feature, Barrowman says: "The writers have found where we lie. The analogy I use is that last year we were walking, finding our feet. This year we're running. The stories still have the content we had last year, but they're just maybe a little more focused, more particular.

"Last year there were individual stories that had their own beginning and end. This year there's a throughline through it all, 'cos at the end there's a huge reveal and a big cliffhanger."

Meanwhile, celebrity magazine Ikonz carries a lengthy interview with Eve Myles in which the Torchwood star reveals that the word "famous" makes her "want to be sick".

She tells Adam Yosef: "I'm completely not into celebrity and not into doing things for the sake of being famous.

"I mean, the word 'famous' makes me want to be sick to be honest with you. I can't wait to go back to theatre, I can't wait to be back in the West End. I can't wait to go back with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"Those things really excite me. Also, getting some really good parts, that excites me. But the whole razzle dazzle, if it came about well great but it's not a path I'll be going after."

She adds: "I'm due to go out to LA next year to have some meetings. I will enjoy it, if something comes of it, wonderful but if it doesn't I haven't lost anything."

Finally, the Liverpool Daily Post has a report and video on a company making Tardis sheds.

(Thanks to Jerome Morrow, Alex Frazer-Harrison, and forum members "drwho" and "Minister of Sense".)

Big Finish Productions has announced the launch of a new download service launching on February 1st. With this service, listeners will be able to purchase and instantly download the audio of their choice as an mp3 file to their computer.
This includes the Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield, Sapphire and Steel, and the forthcomingStargate series.

"Listening habits have changed dramatically over the last ten years," says Company Director, Jason Haigh-Ellery. "More and more people are choosing to buy their music and audio online and listen to it either on their computer or on mp3 players like the iPod. We are delighted to be able to make Big Finish's productions available in this new way."

Jason also addressed the impact that this change will have on foreign fans. "We have always done our best to keep the prices as low as possible for foreign customers," continues Haigh-Ellery. "Unfortunately though, the poor exchange rate with America, Australia and other countries has made this difficult. Now though, by offering downloadable versions of our plays, we can dramatically reduce the price as there is no extra expenditure on postage, packing and materials. We're sure that this will be good news for our foreign customers."

With the launch of the new website at BigFinish.com on February 1st, fans will be able to sample individual episodes for a small cost. The remainder of the play will be available for simply paying the remainder of the balance. Although not available at launch, a subscription service will be introduced where customers can purchase several plays in advance of their release at a discounted rate. In addition to the plays themselves, music suites, behind-the-scenes features and copies of the scripts will also be made available for download.

Fans who prefer to continue buying their Big Finish plays on CD need not worry that online downloads will herald the end of the CD versions. All new Big Finish plays will continue to be released on CD simultaneously with the download version. The download versions will be cheaper than the CDs in all territories but CD purchasers will also be entitled to acquire the download version at no extra charge.

"The new download service is a major step forward for Big Finish," says Jason Haigh-Ellery.

Unofficial overnight figures gave Episode One of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, an audience of 3.7 million viewers, a 14.8% share of the total audience.

The programme was the highest rated on BBC2 for the day and the 18th most watched on all television.

These are the highest ratings that Torchwood has achieved on BBC2, although the previous series was shown on BBC3 first.

The programme was repeated on BBC3 at 2330 where it got 247,000viewers.