Sarah Jane Update

Monday, 4 June 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Doctor Who Magazine has announced the writers for the first series of Sarah Jane Adventures. Adventures One and Four will be written by Gareth Roberts, Adventures Two and Five by Phil Ford, and Adventure Three by Phil Gladwin. While there is no script by Russell T Davies, he remains executive producer.

Producer Matthew Bouch also commented on the casting of Daniel Anthony as Clyde Langerl.

"We auditioned far and wide for the final member of Sarah Jane's team, and Daniel just walked it at his audition. He's thrown himself into it, and is already an expert at running away from monsters!"

FILTER: - Production - Sarah Jane

Torchwood debuts in Australia on 18 June

Monday, 4 June 2007 - Reported by Adam Kirk

Channel Ten have confirmed reports from the South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club that Torchwood will make its Australian debut on Monday 18 June 2007 at 9.30pm, following Supernatural.

Aussie fans will be busy in June with The Runaway Bride confirmed by the ABC to debut on Thursday 28 June at 8.35pm. Series three has also been confirmed to debut on the ABC in the regular Saturday 7.30pm timeslot on 30 June (Warning: ABC links have major spoilers!).

Thanks to the SADWFC and Martin Dunne.

FILTER: - Torchwood - Australia

Family of Blood - Overnight Ratings

Sunday, 3 June 2007 - Reported by Marcus

Unofficial overnight figures show that Episode Nine, The Family of Blood, was watched by 6.6 million viewers, making it the most watched programme of Saturday.

With a share of 39.1% of the total viewers, the programme was top by audience and by share, narrowly beating Any Dream Will Do.

It out-rated its direct opposition on ITV1, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, which achieved 4.1 million viewers.

The children's audience was 1.4 million, making it by far the highest-rated show of the week with 4-15 year olds, with a share of 62.6%.

With one day to go the programme currently stands at number 12 in the week's top programmes.

On BBC Three, Doctor Who Confidential received a rating of 0.54 million viewers, which was a 3.6% share of the audience. This made it the most watched multichannel programme of the day.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

BBC refutes cancellation rumour

Sunday, 3 June 2007 - Reported by R Alan Siler

The following has been reported by United Press International:

LONDON, June 1 (UPI) -- The BBC dismissed rumors that the popular British show Doctor Who would be axed as "idle speculation."

Filming is scheduled to begin for the fourth season of the BBC Wales-produced program next week and BBC executives said they have a long-term commitment to the award-winning program, the Western Mail reported Friday.

Speculation was high that writer Russell T. Davies, who revived Doctor Who in 2005, was scrapping the show to concentrate on other projects. Davies and other senior staff working on the series were said to be thinking about handing in their resignations, news reports indicated.

"We are a long way away from even thinking about series five when the current series hasn't ended and we have yet to start filming series four. But the BBC has a long-term commitment to Doctor Who," the program's creators said in a statement.

FILTER: - Russell T Davies - Press

Friday Night Ratings

Saturday, 2 June 2007 - Reported by Marcus

The Friday repeat of episode eight, Human Nature, was watched by 289,000 viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures. This was a 1.6% of the multichannel audience.

FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 3/29

Human Nature Ebook Returns

Saturday, 2 June 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

The Doctor Who homepage has placed Human Nature by Paul Cornell back on its Ebook page complete with new features.

Although we've been resting it for a while (so newcomers wouldn't be tempted to find out how it all ends in between TV episodes), the Human Nature ebook is back.

Our version of Paul Cornell's classic Seventh Doctor tale still contains extensive notes from the author, plus all of Daryl Joyce's original artwork - but we've take the opportunity to pimp it up a bit.

As well as smartening up the presentation, we've also created downloadable versions that you can read on all sorts of PDAs, Pocket PCs and mobile phones.

Best of all, Paul has written a brand new article, revealing how he adapted the novel into the televised version.

FILTER: - Online - Books

Week Ten Schedule

Saturday, 2 June 2007 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who stays at its new regular time of 7.10pm for the transmission of this year's Doctor lite episode, Blink. The programme is once again sandwiched between The Peoples Quiz and the The National Lottery Draws.

The BBC1 line up later includes the final of the search for a star series Any Dream Will Do where John Barrowman will help the public decide who take the title role in the new West End production of Joseph.

The main opposition ITV1 pits John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John up against the Doctor when it shows the 1978 feature film Grease as a prelude to its own final of the talent show Grease is the Word.

On BBC2 viewers can get their culture fix with The Culture Show looking at the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall after a two-year refit while Channel 4 continues with Lie Lab looking at New lie-detection technology. Channel 5 once more offers Cricket on Five with the best of the third day's action from Old Trafford.

FILTER: - UK - Series 3/29 - Broadcasting

Series 4 Writers Announced

Friday, 1 June 2007 - Reported by Jarrod Cooper

Doctor Who Magazine has announced the writers for Doctor Who Series 4. Helen Raynor and Steven Moffat are both back, each penning a two-part story for the season. Joining them are returning writers Gareth Roberts, Tom MacRae, andStephen Greenhorn, with an episode each. Writing their first episodes for the series are James Moran and Keith Temple. Russell T Davies will be writing 4 episodes plus the Christmas Special.

More details are available in Doctor Who Magazine 383, available at newsstands throughout the UK and specialist dealers around the world.

FILTER: - Production - Series 4/30

Piper Is Granted Divorce

Thursday, 31 May 2007 - Reported by DWNP Archive

Billie Piper and Chris Evans were today granted a "quickie" divorce in the High Court in London.

The decree nisi went through at a brief hearing at the Principal Registry of the Family Division.

This decree does not end the marriage. That will happen when the decree is made absolute, and a decree absolute can only be applied for when six weeks have elapsed following the decree nisi being made.

Neither Piper nor Evans was in court.

The couple married in Las Vegas in May 2001 and separated in October 2004.

Also reported at BBC News.

FILTER: - People - Billie Piper

Davies media speculation

Thursday, 31 May 2007 - Reported by Anthony Weight

MediaGuardian.co.uk, the media news-focused section of The Guardian newspaper's website, has today run a story(subscription link) by reporter Ben Dowell speculating about the possible future of Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies.

The piece, in reponse to a story published in this morning's edition of the tabloid newspaper The Sun, contains a quote from an unnamed "BBC drama spokeswoman", stating that: "Discussions have not begun so we cannot say if Russell will be involved or not" with Doctor Who beyond the end of the fourth series in 2008.

However, the report specifically denies The Sun's story that Davies and other staff on the show have a plan to end the programme at the conclusion of the fourth series. MediaGuardian quotes another source, a similarly unnamed "senior BBC Wales drama source", as telling them that:

"Russell has always said that he wouldn't be with the show forever and he has made no secret that the hours are quite exhausting... But there isn't any way it would be axed even if he left. He loves the show and he does feel that maybe it would benefit from some new blood."

The MediaGuardian states that "if Mr Davies does leave Doctor Who, the BBC will want to keep such a popular show going by bringing in a new executive producer to take over his creative responsibilities."

FILTER: - Russell T Davies - Production - Press

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