The Sun had a small article about Billie Piper on Friday, the wording and quotes of which have been widely reported on various news sites over the past 24 hours, including Yahoo! News. The piece claims she regrets leaving Doctor Who, and that she is also slightly jealous of the show's continued success. However, the actual quotes are not attributed and appear to be largely recycled from interviews she gave over the past month when she was publicising her book. The quotes include:

BBC1 have broadcast the first trailer dedicated to the forthcoming Christmas Day episode The Runaway Bride, just before this week's Robin Hood. The 20-second trailer showed a montage of clips from the episode, leading up to a triumphant voiceover declaring, "I shall descend upon this earth and shine."

This is the same trailer that has been available on day twelve on the advent calendar from the Official Doctor Who website.

Last month, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales held a special concert of Murray Gold's Doctor Who music. Tickets to the concert sold out within hours. This Christmas, UK fans with digital, cable, satellite or Freeview will be able to watch Doctor Who: A Celebration on BBCi via the "red button". The programme will be available:

• Christmas Day: after the Doctor Who Confidential broadcast, between 1.50-7pm
• Christmas Day: after the Doctor Who Christmas Special The Runaway Bride, BBCi on BBC One between 8.50pm and 4am (ends 1.45am on Freeview)
  Wednesday 27 December: BBCi on BBC Three, 8.50pm-4am (ends 1.45am on Freeview)
• Tuesday 2 January: BBCi on BBC Three, 7.50pm-4am (not Freeview)
• Wednesday 3 January: BBCi on BBC Three, 7.50pm-4am (not Freeview)

More details are available at the website of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Shelter, the charity for the homeless, is calling on people to download a new version of The Kinks' classic "You Really Got Me" as "sung" by the BT Text voice of former Doctor Who, Tom Baker. The Shelter website also details how funds raised from this appeal will be spent.

Samples and download links for the track can be found here.

Ain't it Cool News is featuring an interview with Euros Lyn, director of The End of the World and The Unquiet Deadfrom Series 1, the 2005 Children in Need Special and, from Series 2, Tooth and Claw, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Idiot's Lantern and Fear Her, the latter of which airs on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US later tonight; read the interview here.

Lyn is also the director of the 2006 Christmas episode The Runaway Bride.

The Controller of BBC One, Peter Fincham, was interviewed on Simon Mayo's programme on the BBC's national news and sport talk station, Radio 5 Live, this afternoon.

Outpost Gallifrey forum member Ian Robinson e-mailed a question into the programme, asking whether there was any truth to the rumour that Doctor Who's current run would come to an end after the fourth or fifth series. "No truth to that rumour," was Fincham's reply after Mayo had read him the question. "We don't necessarily plan years in advance, but Doctor Who is so popular I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon."

Fincham also singled out The Runaway Bride as one of the highlights of BBC One's Christmas Day schedule, saying that there was "a particular excitement and anticipation" about the special, and specifically mentioning Catherine Tate's involvement, calling her casting "a real coup". There is apparently "no way on Earth" his children will be watching anything else at 7pm on Christmas Day.

The interview can be heard in full via the 'Listen Again' feature on the Simon Mayo page of the BBC Radio 5 Live website. The Fincham interview starts approximately one hour and ten minutes into Friday's edition.

(Thanks to Ian Robinson)

Oh, yes he is! David Tennant will be playing Buttons in a radio pantomime of Cinderella. Thandie Newton takes the title role, and Brian Blessed (Yrcanos in the 1986 Doctor Who story The Trial of a Time Lord) will be the town crier/narrator. The pantomime will air on Virgin Radio on Thursday, December 21 starting at 7:30 AM (GMT); morning DJChristian O'Connell will play Prince Charming. You can listen to the pantomime live via Virgin Radio's website.

There are more details at the Independent and BBC News. You can discuss this story in our forum here.

Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell has announced in our forum that "thanks to the kindness of the production office in asking me to write it, I have a Christmas Doctor Who short story, 'Deep and Dreamless Sleep' in The Sunday Times Culture section on Christmas Eve."

The next issue of SFX Magazine features a new publicity photo for The Runaway Bride on its cover. Click on the preview below to see the larger version.

The magazine, available in shops from Wednesday 20th December, will feature an interview with producer Phil Collinson as part of a seven page feature on forthcoming Doctor Who, which also includes interviews with Lis Sladenand Samantha Bond from the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures.

And in addition to that, there is also a two-page Tom Baker interview focussing on some of his loves and hates!

(Thanks to Ian Berriman of SFX, and TaraLivesOn from our forum)