BBC Worldwide has struck a licensing deal with popular bit-torrent provider Azureus to distribute legal episodes of Doctor Who to United States users early next year. The programme will be one of a number of high profile BBC titles available via Azureus' new Zudeo client software. The deal marks a significant first step for the broadcaster in Peer-to-Peer distribution.

Which episodes will be carried, and what costs will be involved, has yet to be announced. The current series is airing in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel, BBC America and soon in select markets on PBS. The classic series is airing only in a few US markets.

This story is being reported by Wired.com. Thanks to Panodk from our forum for the initial link to Business Wire'sreport.

Update, Dec 20th: Further news links on this story: BBC News and The Guardian.

As previously reported, BBC Audio is releasing The Gunfighters on CD on February 5, 2007. The full soundtrack is narrated by Peter Purves (Steven). The official cover blurb and illustration are below; click on the thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Paul Taylor/Tenth Planet)

A new 30 second long trailer for The Runaway Bride has now broadcast on BBC channels, showing many more clips from the episode.

Meanwhile, the BBC's childrens news programme Newsround featured more interviews with the cast, and also broadcast its own exclusive new clips from the episode in their BBC1 edition this afternoon.

David Tennant: "The Doctor losing Rose was a really big moment for him, and it would be a bit wrong if we just came back and said he's fine now, he's forgotten all about that."

Russell T Davies: "He's heartbroken, absolutely devastated because the love of his life has disappeared. But at the same time I don't want to give viewers on Christmas Day at 7 o'clock an hour's worth of weeping."

Catherine Tate: "They're such different characters, this is in no way a replacement for Rose or anything like that, it's just the next chapter in the Doctor's journey, because he needed a mission, and this was a mission, and it snaps him out of it a little bit."

The crew then when on to say what we can expect from series three (see spoiler section below).

The Doctor Who special can be found online at the CBBC website.


Other coverage of Doctor Who today included a mention of the press screening on the morning's edition of Newsround, which also briefly showed the talking cyberhelmet in an item about buying presents. And ITV1's GMTV also covered the press screening, with television critic Richard Arnold waxing lyrical on how good the Christmas special will be (and bemoaning the fact he missed the press screening himself!)

Six days and counting ...

The BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row previewed the forthcoming Christmas season's television highlights on its Tuesday 19th edition, with Time Out magazine's television editor Alkarim Jivani listing his recommended programmes for the festive period. He began with The Runaway Bride, and praised Doctor Who for creating a new tradition of Christmas Day viewing.

"If you talk about Christmas television these days, you have to begin with Doctor Who," Jivani enthused. "It's curious that it's rapidly establishing itself as a Christmas TV fixture for the new century in the same way that Morecambe and Wise was a Christmas TV fixture for the last century."

Jivani also included the Billie Piper-starring The Ruby in the Smoke among his highlights, along with Dracula, which stars former Doctor Who guest actors Sophia Myles and Marc Warren. In a separate item earlier in the programme, Joe Ahearne was interviewed about his new ITV1 drama Perfect Parents, starring Christopher Eccleston.

Full details and the chance to hear the programme via the "Listen Again" feature can be found on the Front Row website.

BBC1's Breakfast programme tomorrow morning (19th Dec) will be looking at the forthcoming Christmas Day special, and will feature David Tennant as a guest.

Don't forget, Catherine Tate will be appearing on this afternoon's New Paul O'Grady Show at 5:00pm, Channel 4.

The entertainment section of the BBC News Online website has today published a preview of the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas special The Runaway Bride. The feature contains quotes from David Tennant, as well as the episode's main guest stars Catherine Tate and Sarah Parish.

Responding to a question on how long he will stay in the role, Tennant is quoted as saying that: "From the moment I accepted this job, people have asked me when I'm leaving... I have tried to be as noncommittal as possible and shall maintain that stance today."

On her role as the bride Donna in the special, Tate said the part was "one of the best things I've done... It was such a fantastic job, and so exciting. It was like making an action movie. I agreed to do it without even knowing what it was - I just said yes."

Parish, playing the villainous Empress of the Racnoss in the episode, is quoted about the heavy costume and make-up she had to wear for the part. "It was a heavy, cumbersome costume but I loved it. It was a really interesting exercise... You really have to over-accentuate everything in order to make the prosthetics work."

The full article contains some very minor spoilers for the special, so do not click the link if you want to remain completely surprised next Monday.

Big Finish has announced plans for the remainder of Season Two of their adaptation of Sapphire and Steel, which includes stories by Nigel Fairs ("Cruel Immortality") and Steve Lyons ("Perfect Day", featuring a return of a Season One character, Gold, played by Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss).

The season finale, penned by Joseph Lidster, is "The Mystery of the Missing Hour", which guest stars Sixth DoctorColin Baker as the Narrator and Sarah Douglas (known for her roles in Superman II and the television mini-series V) as Lady Marjorie.

The Sapphire and Steel series stars David Warner as Steel and Susannah Harker as Sapphire. Visit the Sapphire and Steel page on the Big Finish website for more details about these releases.

This evening's Wales Today (BBC Wales) had a brief article on The Runaway Bride, reporting that the Doctor "gets thrown back into a bizarre set of circumstances ... it's so strange, even the cast weren't sure how the final cut would look".

David Tennant commented: "It's one of those shows where so much happens in post-production. All sorts of things happen to the TARDIS that have never happened before. The three of us [Tennant, Sarah Parish andCatherine Tate] did a scene together when we were in a completely different room on a completely different day."

Parish added: "To see the final [result] it's unbelievable - it's so exciting!"

Meanwhile, Tate appeared on the New Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4, and inevitably the first topic of discussion was the forthcoming episode. Tate reported that she really enjoyed her time making the show, and suggested she really would have wanted to have become a proper companion rather than just the one-off appearance she had for the special. She also mentioned she'd attended the screening that had taken place today (which is presumably where theWales Today item originated).

Paul O'Grady commented that he wants a small part in the series!