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)

Catherine Tate, who co-stars this Christmas in The Runaway Bride, has won Best TV Comedy Actress at the British Comedy Awards tonight. The ceremony, which celebrates notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year, was broadcast live on ITV. Tate's award was specifically for last year's Catherine Tate Christmas Special, which was repeated this evening on BBC2. The story is reported on both Digital Spy and BBC News, with reaction in our forums.

Doctor Who is off of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Christmas holidays but ratings are now in for the first eight episodes of Series Two. This year the CBC is broadcasting Doctor Who on Monday nights at 8:00pm (8:30pm in Newfoundland and Labrador). Doctor Who is scheduled against different competition in different time zones. Some of the shows Doctor Who has been up against are: Prison Break (Global/FOX), Corner Gas (CTV), regional hockey (SNET) and in many larger markets Battlestar Galactica(CHUM/CITY). The ratings for each episode are as follows:

October 9th - New Earth - 530 000
October 16th - Tooth and Claw - 371 000
October 23th - School Reunion - 493 000
November 6th - The Girl in the Fireplace - 535 000
November 13th - Rise of the Cybermen - 520 000
November 20th - The Age of Steel - 466 000
November 27th - The Idiot's Lantern - 442 000
December 4th - The Impossible Planet - 536 000

Doctor Who was pre-empted on October 30th for part two of the mini-series Above and Beyond. Doctor Who will return to the CBC on January 15th, 2007 with "The Satan Pit".

For discussion of the Canadian broadcasting of Doctor Who, please visit this thread in our forum.

(With thanks to Rod Mammitzsch and DWIN)