Catherine Tate Returns to Doctor Who for Series Four

Wednesday, 4 July 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

The official BBC Doctor Who website has announced that comedienne and actress Catherine Tate, who guest starred in the 2006 Christmas episode The Runaway Bride, is to return to the role of Donna Noble as a full-time companion of the Doctor throughout the fourth series of Doctor Who in 2008.

Executive producer Russell T Davies is quoted by the site as saying: "Catherine was an absolute star in The Runaway Bride and we are delighted that one of Britain's greatest talents has agreed to join us for the fourth series. Viewers can expect more ambitious storylines and a whole host of guest stars in 2008."

Tate herself added that: "I am delighted to be returning to Doctor Who. I had a blast last Christmas and look forward to travelling again through time and space with that nice man from Gallifrey."

Tate replaces Freema Agyeman (Martha) as a regular cast member; Agyeman will appear in several episodes later in the season, and three episodes ofTorchwood.

The Press Association today syndicated a story about both Tate and Kylie Minogue appearing in the series.

Update: This story has featured in a number of newspapers today, including The Guardian, The Sun, The Independent, The Times, and The Mirror, as well as BBC News.

FILTER: - Catherine Tate - Production - Series 4/30

Doctor Who Adventures 33

Wednesday, 4 July 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

The next issue of Doctor Who Adventures is out on Thursday, 5th July and features an in depth look at the Master, as well as catching up with Barney from Totally Doctor Who.

Other features include the first part of a pull out guide to Doctor Who 2007, containing every story and monster. In the comic strip, the Doctor and Martha try to stop the Fatkat Corporation in part two of Minus Seven Wonders. Plus find out how to make your own Vortex Manipulator, just like Captain Jack’s.

It also comes with three free gifts (a monster message pad, pen and pencil), as well as exclusive posters of the Master, the cat people of New Earth, and Martha Jones.

FILTER: - Magazines - DWA

More Faction Paradox Novels Planned

Wednesday, 4 July 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

New Zealand based company Random Static Ltd has acquired the rights to continue Lawrence Miles' Faction Paradox novel series. The time-travelling voodoo cult Faction Paradox first appeared in Miles' Doctor Who novel Alien Bodies. The Faction subsequently featured in several BBC books before obtaining their own novel series, audio plays, and comics.

Newtons Sleep by Daniel O'Mahony will be the first Faction Paradox release from Random Static, and is scheduled for publication in late 2007.

FILTER: - Books

Sound of Drums Final Ratings

Wednesday, 4 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus

Figures published by BARB show that episode twelve, The Sound of Drums, was watched by 7.51 million viewers, making it the 11th most watched programme of the week.

The programme narrowly missed out on a top ten place by just 50,000 viewers. It was the 4th most watched on BBC One, beating an edition of EastEnders.

On multichannel, the Sunday repeat got 1.09 million watching, making the programme the second highest rated of the week.

Doctor Who Confidential got 0.96 million and was the 4th most watched multichannel programme of the week.

Final figures are much more accurate than the initial overnights and include those who recorded the programme and watch it within 7 days.

Top Twenty Television Programmes (w/e 24th June 2007)

1 CORONATION STREET (MON 2030) - 10.27 - ITV1
2 CORONATION STREET (MON 1934) - 9.99 - ITV1
3 EASTENDERS (MON 2001) - 9.68 - BBC1
4 EASTENDERS (THU 1931) - 9.17 - BBC1
5 CORONATION STREET (WED 1931) - 9.11 - ITV1
6 CORONATION STREET (SUN 1929) - 9.04 - ITV1
7 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1934) - 8.78 - ITV1
8 EASTENDERS (FRI 2001) - 8.54 - BBC1
9 HEARTBEAT (SUN 2000) - 7.84 - ITV1
10 EMMERDALE (MON 1902) - 7.56 - ITV1
11 DOCTOR WHO (SAT 1915) - 7.51 - BBC1
12 THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (MON 2101) - 7.10 - ITV1
13 EMMERDALE (THU 1903) - 6.94 - ITV1
14 EASTENDERS (TUE 1931) - 6.86 - BBC1
15 EMMERDALE (WED 1900) - 6.84 - ITV1
16 EMMERDALE (TUE 1901) - 6.59 - ITV1
17 EMMERDALE (SUN 1900) - 6.56 - ITV1
18 EMMERDALE (FRI 1903) - 6.47 - ITV1
19 DALZIEL AND PASCOE (THU 2100) - 6.24 - BBC1
20 BBC NEWS AND WEATHER (SUN 2200) - 6.00 - BBC1

Multichannel Top Twenty

1 FILM: SHREK (Tue 2001) 1,432,000 - BBC3
2 DOCTOR WHO (Sun 2000) 1,094,000 - BBC3
3 EASTENDERS (Tue 2202) 956,000 - BBC3
4 DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL (Sat 2002) 955,000 - BBC3
5 AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (2007) (Fri 2031) 954,000 - ITV2
6 FILM: SHREK (Wed 2100) 936,000 - BBC3
7 THE SIMPSONS (Sun 1831) 850,000 - Sky 1
8 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL LIVE (Wed 1700) 829,000 - Sky Sports
9 EASTENDERS (Thu 2201) 816,000 - BBC3
10 HOME AND AWAY (Tue 1829) 807,000 - Five Life
11 SUPERNATURAL (Sun 2104) 804,000 - ITV2
12 HOLLYOAKS (Thu 1859) 785,000 - E4
13 60 SECONDS (Sun 1958) 772,000 - BBC3
14 HOME AND AWAY (Mon 1829) 731,000 - Five Life
15 FILM: LETHAL WEAPON (Thu 2154) 717,000 ITV2
16 HOLLYOAKS (Fri 1859) 715,000 E4
17 HOME AND AWAY (Wed 1829) 688,000 Five Life
18 HOME AND AWAY (Thu 1829) 663,000 Five Life
19 60 SECONDS (Sun 2201) 647,000 BBC3
20 HOLLYOAKS (Wed 1859) 639,000 E4

Source: BARB

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

BBC Annual Report

Tuesday, 3 July 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

Doctor Who is cited several times as a prime example of BBC output in the corporation'sannual report, jointly published today by the BBC Trust, the body which oversees the organisation and replaced the defunct Board of Governors of the BBC in January this year, and the BBC Executive, which runs the corporation editorially.

The series is mentioned in the BBC Trust's section of the report as a "genuinely popular success" by Sir Michael Lyons, the Trust's chairman. In the BBC Executive's report, the programme receives numerous mentions - these include praise for being one of the corporation's "most loved dramas" during a section highlighting the work of BBC Wales, which is also commended for the spin-off series Torchwood; the report described BBC Wales as a "world-class production centre".

The section dealing with BBC One's drama output opens with: "It has been a year of drama resurgence on BBC One, starting the year with a new Doctor Who, played brilliantly by David Tennant. The series exceeded all expectations and became a national talking point."

The series is also mentioned for its profitability - "Profits from global TV sales were up 19% to £40.2million, driven particularly by contemporary drama such as Doctor Who."

The report does, however, admit that: "Not everything we try works. The TARDISODES, one-minute Doctor Who episodes via mobile phones and bbc.co.uk, were not the hit we expected although they were popular on broadband."

FILTER: - Press

New Benny Producer Announced

Tuesday, 3 July 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Big Finish has announced that the new range producer for their Bernice Summerfield audios and books range, based on the character originally created for the Virgin Publishing Doctor Who novels series during the 1990s and spun off to her own range, will be Eddie Robson. After two years,Simon Guerrier, author of the forthcoming Bernice Summerfield - The Inside Story, is moving on to other projects. The company says that titles for 2008 will be announced soon.

FILTER: - Audio

Minogue Casting Makes Headlines

Tuesday, 3 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus

In a sign of the international popularity of the series and its newly signed guest star, news of Kylie Minogue's appearance in the 2007 Christmas special has been reported around the world.

BBC News had the story leading its entertainment section for much of the day, and for a time the report was showing as the most emailed story of the day.

Other UK sites reporting the news included the BBC's opposition GMTV, ITV andChannel 4.

On Television a video report aired on BBC Breakfast, before being shown during the day on the domestic news channel BBC News24 and also the international channelBBC World.

Newspapers in the UK that reported the story included The Sun, The Guardian, The Mirror, The Times, The Daily Express, The Western Mail,The Liverpool Echo, The Manchester Evening News, The Evening Gazette,The Daily Post and The News in Portsmouth.

Further abroad the story made print in Minogue's native country in The Canberra Times, The Brisbane Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation online news and The Herald-Sun as well as being reported in The Irish Examiner and The Hindustan Times.

Online many international sites have been reporting the news, sites as diverse as DailyIndia.com, Chinadaily.com, and TV Blend.

FILTER: - Specials - Production

USA Series Three Starts Friday - Updated

Tuesday, 3 July 2007 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The US Sci Fi Channel cable network begins airing Series Three of Doctor Who this Friday, July 6 at 8pm. The broadcast of the third season, which stars David Tennant and Freema Agyeman, begins with the debut of last December's Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride" at 8pm and the first regular season episode, "Smith and Jones," immediately following at 9:30pm. Episodes will then be broadcast on subsequent Fridays at 9pm, with a one-week break on August 31 due to the Labor Day holiday weekend. The show then moves to 8pm as of September 7 due to the return of Stargate Atlantis at 9pm.

The schedule of episodes is as follows:

July 6 - The Runaway Bride (8:00pm), Smith and Jones (9:30pm)
July 13 - The Shakespeare Code (9:00pm)
July 20 - Gridlock (9:00pm)
July 27 - Daleks in Manhattan (9:00pm)
August 3 - Evolution of the Daleks (9:00pm)
August 10 - The Lazarus Experiment (9:00pm)
August 17 - 42 (9:00pm)
August 24 - Human Nature (9:00pm)
September 7 - The Family of Blood (8:00pm)
September 14 - Blink (8:00pm)
September 21 - Utopia (8:00pm)
September 28 - The Sound of Drums (8:00pm)
October 4 - Last of the Time Lords (9:30pm)

FILTER: - USA - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

AI Figure, Sunday ratings

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Marcus

The final episode of Season Three of Doctor Who was once more one of the most enjoyed programmes on British Television, with Episode Thirteen,Last of the Timelords achieving an Appreciation Index of 88.

For a programme with such a high Audience to achieve such a high Appreciation index is incredibly rare.

The programme scored extremely high on all aspects with 85% making a special effort to watch and 90% watching with a lot of attention. 78% thought it was a high quality programme.

31% thought the programme was inspiring, way above the average score for drama of 16% and 60% said they would recommend it to a friend.

Meanwhile the Sunday BBC3 repeat was once more the most watched programme on Multichannel Television, with 0.76 million viewers, despite its earlier time slot. The share was 4.3% with Doctor Who Confidential being watched by0.46 million viewers.

Final figures are now available for the whole week and puts Doctor Who as the 7th most watched programme of the week, the highest position achieved since Gridlock. Saturday's Doctor Who got 1.7 million more viewers than Sunday's Coronation Street. Final figures will be released by BARB in about nine days time.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

BBC News: New Companion, Martha's Future

Monday, 2 July 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The BBC has revealed that Martha Jones, as played by Freema Agyeman will join the cast of the Doctor Who spin off Torchwood for three episodes next year.

She will then return to Doctor Who, rejoining the show in the middle of Season Four.

To replace Martha a new companion will join the Doctor, staying for the entire thirteen week run of the series.

An announcement on casting is promised very soon.

Update 0800: news sites have started to pick up on the story: the Mirror, the Times,
GMTV, and the Sun (who still insist she was 'axed'!). The ITV1 programme GMTV also reported on who might be cast as the companion (in the Spoiler section below).

0915: The BBC Press Office have now formally reported on Freema's future in the two series, and that the role of new companion is currently vacant and to be announced shortly.

Richard Arnold on GMTV's Pick of the Day reported on the casting speculation that the Sun also touched upon, that actor Tom Ellis would play the next companion; Ellis had just appeared in Last of the Time Lords playing Thomas Milligan.

FILTER: - People - Torchwood

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