The Christmas double edition of the Radio Times is now generally available, containing all the programming details of the main UK channels for the festive period - including of course the premiere of The Husbands of River Song on Christmas Day itself at 5:15pm, which features as one of "the very best of TV, Film and Radio this Christmas".

The magazine also features a two page interview with Peter Capaldi, during which he talks about the departure of Jenna Coleman this year:

As well as this Christmas's new episode, Doctor Who continues to be available to watch on other digital channels/ After a short break Watch returns with a daily dose of the tenth Doctor from the 20th December leading up to a double dose of Christmas specials on the day itself as he encounters The Next Doctor through to The End of Time; post-Christmas it's the turn of the eleventh Doctor to dominate the afternoon schedules. Meanwhile, Horror Channel continue their latest run though the 'classic' era, with Christmas Day seeing the fourth Doctor end up dealing with the Horror of Fang Rock.

However, there's more fourth Doctor action on BBC4 on the 28th/29th December as the channel broadcasts The Face of Evil! As Patrick Mulkern observes in the Radio Times:

Odds on Who

With the Christmas Day scheduled firmly locked down, bets are firmly in the running as to how those shows will fare with viewers. Here are the average odds across the various agencies at the time of writing:

Time        BBC One                              Odds     ITV                                Odds   
 3:00pm     The Queen                                                                        32/1
 3:10pm     Brave                                  -      Cameraman to the Queen               -
 4:10pm                                                   Countrywise Winter Wonderland        -
 4:35pm     BBC News and Weather                   -
 4:45pm     Stick Man                              -
 5:00pm                                                   For The Love Of Dogs              100/1
 5:15pm     Doctor Who                            24/1
 6:00pm                                                   ITV Evening News                     -
 6:15pm     Strictly Come Dancing                 14/1    You've Been Framed With Bells On     -
 6:45pm                                                   Emmerdale                         115/1
 7:30pm     Call The Midwife                      26/1 
 7:45pm                                                   Coronation Street                  27/1
 8:45pm     Eastenders                            11/2    Downton Abbey                       3/1
 9:45pm     Mrs Browns Boys                       evens
10:45pm     Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show   -     Our Cilla                          71/1

Mrs Brown's Boys is the runaway favourite at present which is unsurprising as it has been the highest rated show three years in a row, with second placed Eastenders topping the chart in 2010 and 2011. The odds currently place Doctor Who as the fifth most likely to top the chart: in 2009 The End Of Time (part one) arguably achieved the top spot on Christmas Day, when the combined viewers on BBC One (11.57m) and the simulcast BBC HD (0.47m) made a total of 12.05m versus The Royle Family's combined total of 11.92m and Eastenders of 11.67m.

Last year none of the Christmas shows managed to break the 10 million mark, with Doctor Who ending up in sixth place with its 8.28m viewers. Could Alex Kingston's return in The Husbands of River Song lead to the crown once again being in the show's grasp once the consolidated ratings are known? It won't be too long to find out, and in the meantime readers can watch out for the launch of our annual Guess the ratings competition soon!

The BBC have released a number of new publicity images for the Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, featuring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Alex Kingston as River Song, Matt Lucas as Nardole, Greg Davies as King Hydroflax, plus Phillip Rhys as Ramone and Rowan Polonski as Flemming.

The BBC have released a couple of images featuring Matt Lucas and Greg Davies, who guest-star in this year's Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, playing Nardole and King Hydroflax respectively.



The hour-long episode premieres on BBC One at 5:15pm.

The BBC have released some promotional profile photos of characters who appear in this year's Christmas Special, The Husbands of River Song. The images portray Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Alex Kingston as River Song, Rowan Polonski as Remming and Phillip Rhys as Ramone.

The BBC have released a video featuring the many highlights on television over the festive period including, of course, the Doctor and River from the Christmas Day special, The Husbands of River Song:


Full details of the festive line-up can be found via the BBC Media Centre.

Cinemaxx in Denmark have confirmed that they will show this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Husbands of River Song, on Saturday 26th December, with two showings at 4:45pm and 7:00pm in their Copenhagen, Odense and Aarhus cinemas.

As well as the hour long special the performances will also include an additional thirty minutes of bonus material: though unconfirmed at the time of writing it is expected that this will be the Alex Kingston interview and behind-the-scenes footage that has already been announced for the US screenings of the Special on the 28th/29th December.



Cinemaxx have previously shown The Day of the Doctor, Deep Breath and the 3D version of Dark Water/Death in Heaven in their cinemas.

The BBC have announced the title of the forthcoming Christmas Special, due to be broadcast on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom.

The BBC have released a new synopsis and publicity image for the forthcoming Christmas Special, which stars Peter Capaldi as the Doctor with Alex Kingston as River Song, and also features Greg Davies as King Hydroflax and Matt Lucas as Nardole.

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The Christmas Special is (of course) due to be broadcast on BBC One on Christmas Day, but the first channel to confirm exactly when they will broadcast the episode is FOX in Germany, whose schedules show that it is due to air there on Thursday 28th January at 9:00pm! This is later than in recent years (where the episode has aired on or close to the same day as the UK) owing to a delay in being able to dub the episodes into German.

Though no other regions have confirmed when they will show the episode as yet, last year's special, Last Christmas, was broadcast in over thirty countries within 24 hours of the UK premiere!

BBC Worldwide have announced that the - as yet unnamed - Doctor Who Christmas Special is to be shown in cinemas across the United States in late December.

The BBC have announced this morning that Alex Kingston is returning to play River Song this Christmas. The 11th Christmas special, which has started filming this week, is written by Steven Moffat, directed by Douglas Mackinnon and produced by Nikki Wilson.



River Song made her first Doctor Who appearance in 2008 in Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead and has appeared in 15 episodes to date. She last appeared in The Name of the Doctor in 2013. Earlier this year it was announced the character would be joining Big Finish for an adventure called The Diary of River Song, which is to be released in January 2016.

Alex Kingston comments on her reappearance:
Steven Moffat adds: