Unofficial figures show that the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned was watched by 12.2 million viewers, a 50% share of the total television audience. This is the highest rating the show has achieved since its return in 2005.

The programme was the second most watched of the day, being beaten by the edition of EastEnders immediately following Doctor Who.

The audience peaked in the last fifteen minutes of the show with a massive 13.8 million watching, nearly 55% of the audience. The five minute breakdown shows that over 15 million watched the last five minutes of the programme.

The day was a triumph for the BBC, with BBC One taking nine of the top ten places. Against the Doctor, Emmerdale on ITV1 could only manage 5.8 million, with the Evening News only getting 3.8 million.

The previous highest rated episode of the new series was Rose, which got 10.8 million viewers. If confirmed these figures will make Voyage of the Damned the highest rated episode of Doctor Who in over 28 years. It has the largest audience since the 1979 Tom Baker story City of Death, which had the advantage of being broadcast when ITV was on strike and BBC1 was one of only two channels broadcasting.

In the Children's Charts, Doctor Who was top of the list with 2.2 million under 16's watching, an incredible 65.3% share of the audience.

Final figures, including data for those who recorded the programme and watched it later, will be released by BARB in two weeks time.

Several news sources are running stories on the BBC's Christmas Day dominance, including Doctor Who's large viewing figure. These include The Times,The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, BBC News, The Daily Mail, Digital Spy, The Guardian, Reuters, The Herald, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Manchester Evening News, The South Wales Echo, Variety and The Press Association.

Doctor Who returns today on UK television for its third Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned starring David Tennant and special guest star Kylie Minogue, at 6.50pm on BBC1, followed at 8.30pm by Doctor Who Confidential at Christmas on BBC3. Today's Radio Times listings are below. (And don't forget to come over to The Doctor Who Forum, still the most popular Doctor Who discussion forum online, to discuss the episode and vote in our poll afterward!)

Seven city squares across England will be hosting outdoor screenings of Voyage of the Damned later this week.

The Doctor Who Christmas special will be running continuously from 10am to 4pm on Thursday, December 27 in a move designed to promote the BBC's iPlayer download service.

The screenings will be at:
Bradford (Centenary Square)
Derby (Market Place)
Hull (Queen Victoria Square)
Leeds (Millennium Square)
Liverpool (Clayton Square)
Manchester (Exchange Square)
Rotherham (All Saints Square)

Viewers in the United Kingdom can download the episode, using the BBC iPlayer, for the next seven days to then watch for a limited time.

Some more Doctor Who items from the news, to help tide you over tillVoyage of the Damned:

Doctor Who is, of course, the highlight of most British television critics' Christmas recommendations. Caitlin Moran in The Times calls "Voyage of the Damned" "amazing" and "a doozy", says that Kylie Minogue is "merry and squeezable" and David Tennant "can give 110 per cent intergalactic sexbrain, even when hanging up-sidedown, wearing a space helmet, or standing on the other side of a wall." The television reviewers of the Western Mail,Scotland on Sundayand the Sunday Sun (Newcastle) also give Doctor Who top billing for Christmas.

Russell T. Davies has denied reports that Jennifer Saunders was being sought to play the Doctor, report the Daily Mirror and the Richmond and Twickenham Times. The Mirror quotes Davies as saying: "That is b*****ks. They sit there and make things up. I can tell you it's pure invention. We have never approached her, never spoken to her, never met her."

Minogue's involvement in the Christmas Special gets Doctor Who more international coverage: RTÉ (Ireland) and The Times of India have stories about the pop star's return to acting (although the Indian paper oddly reports false rumors from months ago about her playing a "sexy Cyberwoman").

The Radio Times' website has some video shot by the Doctor Who Confidential team of Tennant and Minogue posing for the Radio Times cover shoot.

Digital Spy and Yahoo! News have picked up the Times' story, previously reported here, about Christian Voice representative Stephen Green's complaint about the Doctor being portrayed as a messianic figure. No source has yet identified any other member of the "Christian groups", plural, cited in the original Times report. But one site, theFreethinker, has taken Green to task in an irreverent and highly amusing piece written by Andy Armitagecalled"Boo Who! The tears of a clown", with a spoof master of ceremonies introducing the whole confrontation as a pantomime, with Green as the villain of the piece, of course, having first been cunningly disguised as the Dame. There's one potential spoiler paragraph, but you're given adequate warning. But it's a hoot - complete with a mockup of Green dressed in orange wig and big frock. The same story has been picked up by MediaWatchWatch, another British blog, whose brief is to log attempts (usually by religious bodies) to stifle freedom of speech.

The Halifax Courier has published the first part of a survey of Doctor Who history. The first installment focuses on previous Christmas specials and theWilliam Hartnell years, and also has a poll in which you can vote for your favorite Doctor.

In a Scotland on Sunday story about the continuing popularity of Charles Dickens, Simon Callow speaks fondly of his role as Dickens on Doctor Who. And Joan Collins, speaking to the Sunday Mirror, denies earlier rumors that she'd been sought for a role in Doctor Who, but says "I'd love to be on Doctor Who - I think it's a fabulous piece of TV."

The Daily Mail has lots of details about Billie Piper's upcoming wedding to Laurence Fox. The Daily Express, meanwhile, presents readers with a 10-question Doctor Who trivia quiz in its television section.

Thanks to Bill Rudloff, and to "Cheshire Pete" and "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

The Daily Post is reporting that comments made by Executive Producer Russell T. Davies at the preview screening ofVoyage of the Damned have caused quite a stir.

When asked who from history he would like to see play the Doctor, Davies reportedly jokingly answered "Hitler. He was stern and strong. He would be great."

According to the story, some guests laughed, but others were shocked by the remark.

One fan later remarked: "Hitler carried out some of the world’s worst atrocities. He ordered the killing of millions of innocent people. I don’t want my kids thinking Hitler and Doctor Who are in any way the same."

When David Tennant was then asked the same question, he reportedly declined to answer.

Various sources in the UK media, including The Sun and Digital Spy, are reporting that 95 year-old Millvina Dean, the last surviving passenger of the sole voyage of the ill-fated passenger liner the Titanic in 1912, has criticised the BBC for setting the festive episode of Doctor Who aboard a replica space ship of the same name.

Dean - whose father drowned in the disaster - is quoted in The Sun as saying: "It is disrespectful to the dead and bereaved to make entertainment of such a tragedy." However, a BBC spokeswoman told the Daily Record newspaper that: "No offence was intended. Voyage of the Damned is set on a spaceship called The Titanic and not a boat."

Items from this year's Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, are due to go on display in London from next Easter, according to the Doctor Who Exhibitions and Museum website.

They will be among other costumes, props and monsters from the series on show at the Museum Hall, beneath Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

This is not the first Doctor Who connection for Earls Court. In 1997, the Metropolitan Police put up a Tardis-style police box just outside the Underground station, with a closed-circuit TV camera in place of the rooflight.

David Tennant, John Simm and Kylie Minogue will help welcome in 2008 on Jools's Annual Hootenanny.

The pre-recorded BBC2 programme includes Minogue singing, with Tennant and Simm among the audience - and Tennant reportedly dancing and singing by the stage of rising star Kate Nash during her performance.

Several news sources cover the Hootenanny: Hello! magazine, The Daily Mirror and the Belfast Telegraph all mention Tennant, while the Sun,Sunday Express and Liverpool Echo all focus on Minogue's duet with Sir Paul McCartney.

The show airs from 11.05pm on New Year's Eve until 1.15am on New Year's Day.