David Tennant has won Heat magazine's Best TV Acting Performance for his role in Doctor Who, voted for by the readers. The magazine comments: "Christopher Eccleston left big shoes to fill in the revived Doctor Who, but the effortlessly charming David Tennant did it with ease, playing especially well on the flirty, repressed love affair between the Doctor and Rose. But where was co-star Billie Piper on the list, eh?" (Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect - was voted in second place, and Lesley Sharp - Afterlife - in third.)

The Christmas double issue of the independent listings magazine TV and Satellite Week, currently available in UK shops, not only features Doctor Who on the cover (see December 7th news story) but also contains an interview withDavid Tennant as part of its preview feature for The Runaway Bride.

The final question Tennant is asked in the interview concerns how long he plans to remain in the role of the Doctor, with the magazine stating that: "You're only contracted to the end of the fourth series, but a lot of people would like you to stay in the role."

Tennant's reply is: "That's very nice, and it's a great job, too. It's certainly not something I would walk away from lightly. But at the moment I don't know, I'll wait till I'm asked, I think."

The Australian Friends of Science Fiction in association with the Doctor Who Club of Australiaare hosting "A Day with John Barrowman", Captain Jack from Doctor Who and Torchwood, on Saturday March 24 2007.

The venue is the Bankstown Sports Club, Sydney, NSW.

More information (including how to book a ticket and accommodation) is available from the Friends of Science Fiction website.

Update: December 20 2006 Sadly this event has been postponed as John can no longer make it to Australia in March 2007 because of the commissioning of a second series of Torchwood. For more details see the Friends of Science Fiction website above.

BBC3's Torchwood pulled ahead of Sky One's Lost in the big digital multichannel ratings battle last night, according toMedia Guardian.

The 10pm slot saw Torchwood being watched by 971,000 viewers, while big US import Lost attracted only 863,000 viewers. This was the first showing in the UK for both episodes.

Rival BBC channels are fighting for screening rights to a second series of Cardiff-based sci-fi hit Torchwood, according to a report from the South Wales Echo.

The report points out that a second series has not been officially commissioned for the Doctor Who spin-off, but claims that scripts are already being prepared and that "both BBC Two and BBC Three are fighting for the right to screen it first - with writer Russell T Davies pushing for a slot on BBC One."

The first official release of Murray Gold's soundtrack to Doctor Who has gone to the top of the download chart from itunes according to a report from the BBC. Going against strong competition such as the soundtrack to the new James Bond film the release made it into the top 30 picks on the first day.

This afternoon's Blue Peter delved into the making of the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot. As well as looking behind-the-scenes at the making of the show, presenter Konnie Huq interviewed Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Paige(who plays Sarah's next door neighbour Maria), and Samantha Bond (Mrs Wormwood).

Sladen discussed Sarah's character and how her behaviour has to change now she has children around on her adventures, while Paige talked about the private tutors the young cast are required to have on-set to make sure they keep up with their schoolwork. Bond spoke to Huq only in-character as Mrs Wormwood, persuading the presenter to try some of her Bubbleshock drink.

A number of clips from the show accompanied the article, providing a number of spoilers for what we can expect on New Year's Day. It was also revealed that there will be a cameo from Huq and one of her fellow Blue Peter presenters in an excerpt from the show shot specially for the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot.

(Additional reporting by Paul Hayes)

In the issue of TV Guide (the weekly US television listings magazine) mailing this week, a substantial Friday highlight is given over to the departure of Billie Piper as Rose ('Army of Ghosts' and 'Doomsday' airs on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US back-to-back on Friday 22 December starting at 8PM; a marathon of other Series 2 episodes airs earlier that day). The piece looks back at other significant departures in the series, touching on Christopher Eccleston's regeneration at the end of Series 1 and then recounting the death of Adric from 'Earthshock' and Second Doctor Patrick Troughton's epic end in 'The War Games'.

For the next five Mondays the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has placed Doctor Whoand most of their regular primetime schedule on a holiday hiatus. During the period holiday programming, movies and other specials will be airing in Doctor Who's Monday night timeslot.

Doctor Who will return to the CBC on Monday January 15th, 2007 at 8:00pm (8:30pm in Newfoundland and Labrador) with the episode "The Satan Pit". This episode concludes the adventure started in "The Impossible Planet" which was broadcast on December 4th, 2006.