The final UK ratings for World War Three, episode five of the new series, were released today. According to BARB, 7.98 million viewers watched the episode, nearly three-quarters of a million more than the overnights. While in twentieth place for the total chart for the week (comparable to previous installments) it was sixth on the BBC chart and third on the "non-soap" chart, and was beaten for the week by only five other series, "Coronation Street," "EastEnders," "Heartbeat," "Emmerdale" and "Casualty". Doctor Who is expected to outperform the latter for episode six.

Ratings News

Great news for Doctor Who and BBC3. Saturday night's Doctor Who Confidential had 504,051 viewers according to ViewingFigures, with 175,740 viewers tuning into the 12.15am repeat of Dalek early Sunday morning and 105,800 viewers watching the 1.00am repeat. "Confidential" once again performed excellently on BBC, being number one in the multi-channel timeslot with a viewing share of 4.1%, beating the previous week's winner "The Simpsons" by over 200,000 viewers.

On Sunday night, 543,960 viewers tuned in for the 7.00pm repeat of "Dalek," with a 4.6% viewing share, and 339,970 viewers were watching the Sunday night repeat of episode 6 of "Confidential".

"Father's Day" Spoilers

The Daily Star today posted information on the episode airing on May 14, "Father's Day," written by Paul Cornell. This includes some major spoilers about the storyline and the names of the aliens involved; click on theSPOILERS tag at the bottom of this article to see them!

"Dalek" Reviews

In the Daily Mirror by TV critic Ian Hyland: "Yes. The Daleks were back. And for 30 pant-sh*ttingly wonderful minutes, BBC1's new Doctor Who was the best thing on telly. Ever. Then they went and spoilt it with a load of symbolic, sentimental, one world, one-universe, war-what-is-it-good-for nonsense. But before the meddling, it was getting crowded behind the sofa."

DigitalSpy: "The return of Doctor Who has been far more successful than I imagined but I had been harbouring reservations as to why they needed to saddle the show with a Dalek episode. ... Robert Shearman was the writer tasked with coming up with a story that would live up to the status of what is, however tarnished, a cultural icon and he seems to have pulled it off. Had we got an episode steeped in Dalek mythology I think I'd have been bored to tears; what we actually got was something akin to Beauty and the Beast via Silence of The Lambs and it turned out to be the best episode so far. The idea of having the Dalek being tortured by its human captures helped to turn the relationship between the audience and the creature on its head and by the episode's end, our sympathy lay with it rather than the Doctor in fine piece of storytelling."

The Independent: "I'm not sure that anyone has ever created a less frightening monster than the Dalek, the homicidal bumper car that can only invade planets that are in full compliance with disability access legislation. In fact, the only thing that gets even close for risible lack of threat is a Cyberman, the implacable enemy of humanity that comes with its own built-in carrying handle. And yet, both of them apparently stirred the viewers so deeply that they can do the television equivalent of a comeback concert. Which is the bigger news for the coming week: the general election or the return of the Daleks in Doctor Who? Radio Times just couldn't call it, so they split the difference with a 'Vote Dalek' cover, the Houses of Parliament providing a backdrop for the latest model, which comes in a rather chavvy bronze and copper colourway.... Robert Shearman, who scripted this episode, had some fun with the robot's famous limitations as a killing machine. 'What are you going to do, sucker me to death?' scoffed a museum curator when menaced with the rubber plunger, which then shot out and fixed on his face with a prehensile grip. He also did the staircase gag, with the fleeing humans gratefully scampering up a set of steps only to discover that this Dalek could levitate."

The Times: "Was anyone ever truly frightened by the monsters in Doctor Who? Even giving them names such as the Giant Spiders of Metebelis III didn't work when they still looked like something you'd get from the joke shop to scare your little sister. Yet the return of the Doctor's old foe, the Daleks, on Saturday, was clearly a major television event -it doesn't get any bigger than having a Radio Times fold-out front cover. ... All the Daleks' dubious design features were gleefully addressed by Robert Shearman's script for Saturday's story. So there were references to 'space dustbins,' the Dalek's sink plunger sucked someone to death, and there was no escape in running upstairs because it took to the air. No wonder the body count was alarmingly high. Shearman also continued to strike the right balance between the respect and renovation displayed by the series... Instead we got a surprisingly poignant story. And Eccleston's combination of blokiness and otherworldly intensity came into its own here, but I can still see why he's already decided to leave the show. Just look at the Daleks -you don't see them in any other line of work."

Garry Bushell, writing in The People, was full of praise for Dalek. "An old familiar menace has returned to haunt Saturday night telly. Cold, full of hatred for humanity and armed with tired old catchphrases, everything about this creature is joyless and old hat. But enough about Julian Clary... wasn"t that Dalek terrific on Doctor Who? Anyone who ever loved this show as a kid must have cheered the roof off when the chained killer realised who it was up against." He noted that the episode "worked in a way most of the previous ones didn't. It was well-written, not pointlessly camp, with a decent story". His piece was accompanied by a small pic of the Dalek. Elsewhere on his two-page TV round-up, he lists the Dalek as being "hot on TV", although, strangely, he also says "shame he didn't exterminate Russell T Davies". The feature also quotes Andrew Alexander as saying "Dr Who: Designed for young people, enjoyed by adults. Just like Billie Piper."

The Guardian: "The Daleks are back on BBC1, Ian McKellen is starring in Coronation Street and beautiful people are ripping each other's clothes off for our entertainment on ITV1. If this isn't the golden age of TV, then what is? After all the build-up, the return of everyone's favourite squawking pepperpot to Doctor Who (Saturday) could have been an anti-climax, and in truth it was a curiously subdued affair. But who could have guessed that ... it would turn into a sci-fi Socratic dialogue?"

The Daily Express: "I think it's fair to say that this was the one we'd all been waiting for... A splendidly scary but rather sad (and politically laboured) story ended with the Dalek exterminating itself because it had taken on human characteristics and was no longer motivated to kill everything that moved. As usual, the script fizzed with good jokes. ... Now, bring on the Cybermen. But go easy on the anti-war rhetoric, please." (Incidentally, cheers to the Daily Express which noted that "Daleks have surmounted the problem of stairs before - See Remembrance Of The Daleks, 1988.")

Newsquest Media Group: "In the old days, these metal creatures rattled around pointing that egg whisk they call a weapon at people and screaming 'exterminate, exterminate'. This new story showed their softer side. ... Christopher Eccleston's Doctor is a troubled time lord. It's becoming increasingly clear that his relationship with Rose, a girl young enough to be his daughter, is not the usual Doctor and travelling companion one. His feelings towards her seem more than paternal. I look forward to seeing how they develop."

The Socialist Review, the monthy political magazine of the Socialist Workers Party, has a review of the return of Doctor Who in its May issue. The review is online here

People in the News

New series star David Tennant is to co-star in a BBC Radio 4 revival of the classic BBC Television police series Dixon of Dock Green. The series, which originally starred the late Jack Warner, ran on BBC Television from 1955 to 1976, and was a spin-off from the 1949 feature film "The Blue Lamp", with Dixon recovering from the notable obstacle of having been killed-off in the movie. Says the report: "The new shows will feature Bramwell actor David Calder as George Dixon, and the forthcoming Doctor Who and Casanova star David Tennant as his sidekick Andy Crawford." Many sites covered this today; the BBC News site ironically didn't mention Doctor Who at all, but others did, including the Scotsman, UTV,WaveGuide, The Independent, and The Guardian.

The Sunday Mirror renewed the Eccleston leaving debate this week. "He quit Doctor Who to head for Hollywood û but is Christopher Eccleston too miserable to be famous? When the BBC announced Christopher Eccleston was quitting Doctor Who after just one series, it caused shock waves. Only one episode of the new series had been screened, to huge ratings and critical acclaim, and his departure took the gloss off the success for the BBC. It also means all the merchandise planned for Christmas will be saddled with a previous incarnation of the Time Lord û by then, Casanova star David Tennant will be the man accompanying Billie Piper through space and time. Chris is rumoured to have rejected huge cash offers û a large advance on his ú1 million salary û but his decision to leave may have been a smart move after all. ... He could simply be being honest, or maybe he's just being awkward. Christopher did once admit, æI am not known for my charm... I think I'm seen as a grumpy old sod.' Born in Salford, Christopher went to the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London, but after leaving, worked on building sites, in between periods of signing on the dole and working as an artist's model. A few years ago, he moved back to Manchester from London, saying, æThe beer's better up here, the women are better looking û and the football is better. United is in my blood.' Christopher has always passionately professed his loathing of the showbiz establishment and associated actor-type pretensions. æI'm not into the celebrity circus û I'm close to my family and prefer time with them,' he says. A friend says, æChris takes his work seriously, but he also takes his roots seriously.' Or could it be he just takes himself very seriously? After all, this is the man who spoke of bringing a æweight and ambiguity' to the role of the Doctor, and said, æEverything about the daleks tells you about the duality of people'. Rather æluvvie' comments for this most non-æactorish' of actors. As for how the star will cope with the gaze of the world on his Salford retreat, only time will tell."

The Times yesterday made some interesting observations about Eccleston's departure: "According to a mole within BBC Wales (which makes Doctor Who), however, Eccleston quit after being presented with a fait accompli: the unappetising choice of starring in only half the next series (not enough) or another two full series (far too big a commitment). Who knows what really happened? The show's executive producer, Julie Gardner, wouldn't comment."

The People had a full-page interview with Camille Coduri, headlined "I've got the hots for DR WHO . . but I want to flirt with DR NEW". No prizes for guessing the angle of that piece. The paper calls her "telly's dalektable flirty mum" but the feature does settle down from time to time to include a bit more insight, with comments from Coduri such as: "Christopher Eccleston was superb. Sometimes I'd have to look away because he'd make me laugh so much. It's a shame he's not doing the second series but people forget he'd been working on it for practically a year. I don't blame him for wanting to move on." She adds: "David Tennant will bring a different dimension to it and he and Billie Piper will work brilliantly together." Later in the piece, Coduri says: "Billie really shines. She's one of the leading actresses of her generation - divine, funny and witty." Elsewhere in The People, it is reported that Simon Callow gave a repeat performance as Charles Dickens from Doctor Who to shoppers at a London store last Sunday, although the Sunday Express merely says he was reciting from his show The Mystery of Charles Dickens while at upmarket grocers Melrose and Morgan.

Bruno Langley spoke to April 30's Daily Post. "Not everyone can claim to have been chased down a corridor by a Dalek screaming 'Exterminate!', but for Bruno Langley - best known for his role as Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street - it was all in a day's work on the set of Doctor Who. 'When they brought the Dalek onto the set, it was really exciting and everyone was taking photos,' the 22-year-old remembers, though he admits he missed out on seeing the Doctor's legendary adversaries in action the first time around. 'I do remember Doctor Who being on, but it was a bit before my time. I liked Alien and Terminator and stuff like that.' And while it wouldn't be Doctor Who without the appearance of a Dalek, fans will be pleased to hear that the creatures are now more than a match for more recent alien counterparts - especially when it comes to tackling stairs. 'When you watch it, it's a bit like the Terminator films, when something's chasing after you and you can't stop it. You can use that as a metaphor for a lot of different things,' says Bruno of the scene in which his character, boy genius Adam Mitchell discovers that stairs are definitely not a problem for the evil oversized pepperpots. In fact, it's also rumoured that Adam, who helps the Doctor and his assistant Rose through their traumatic Dalek encounter, may also develop an evil streak. 'I do end up on the wrong side of the tracks,' admits Bruno of the inquisitive Adam. 'I get the Doctor and Rose into a bit of trouble because I like meddling with things. Him thinking he's a genius gets him into bother.' But, while Christopher Eccleston has confirmed he won't be returning to play the Doctor, Bruno reveals that the door is left open for Adam. 'There's a chance of me coming back if the storyline allows it. I'd love to do it,' he smiles, having clearly relished his two months on the Doctor Who's Welsh set And he readily admits that flirting with Billie Piper was a high point: 'We got on great - I was working with her for two months. 'She's a great girl. I think she's really got a lot going for her. She should probably make her way to America soon,' he says of his famous co-star, though he's quick to add that there was no romance either off or onscreen for the duo. I think Adam's more interested in the technology side of things,' he adds. 'Of course he fancies Rose, she's a gorgeous girl, but he's got more on his mind.'"

The SF Crows Nest website has posted five interviews conducted by Jessica Martin, who has previously conducted interviews with cast members. They include writer Rob Shearman, actor Bruno Langley (Adam), Dalek vocalistNicholas Briggs, writer Mark Gatiss, and actor Simon Callow(Charles Dickens).

Several reports in today that David Tennant has joined the mix of celebrities promoting Labour for this week's elections. "I will be voting Labour this time because the alternative is a disaster area," Tennant says, and also notes that it takes only 30 seconds to vote while the consequences last for five years... The story's covered by icScotland (and indeed all of the iC network websites), the Mirror and Scotsman.

Miscellaneous Coverage

The BBC's Doctor Who website front page has changed. Before, it showed the Dalek in chains; now it shows the Dalek having broken free and pointing its weapon at us.

The Observer yesterday noted that "The BBC was braced for viewer complaints last night after screening possibly the most terrifying Doctor Who episode ever. In the story, shown on BBC One before the watershed, Time Lord Christopher Eccleston came face to face with his arch-enemy, a Dalek, which then went on a killing spree. In one scene the Doctor was shown half-naked being tortured with electric shocks. Four viewers complained to Ofcom after an earlier episode, claiming it was too scary for children, but the media watchdog chose not to investigate."

The Daily Star Sunday (May 1) ran an article titled "Who's For Starters..." which previewed next week's episode and opened with: "Doctor Who looks a bit tied up to fight off his latest enemy. But the Time Lord, played by Christopher Eccleston, is living out every fella's fantasy - being chained up to sexy sidekick Rose, actress Billie Piper." The article was accompanied by a large photograph from the episode. Also in the same newspaper "The Biz" reveals: "Current Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has kept the leather jacket he wears in the BBC1 series. But he says he is too scared to wear it in the street in case a show-worshipping geek attacks him for it. He adds: "It could be in the cupboard for a while yet."" A less than favourable review of "Dalek" also featured (titled "D-aargh-lek's wimpy ending").

Says correspondent Rowan Bridge, West of England reporter for BBC Five Live, on our previous report on Nick Briggs' interview: "I was the one who suggested that they cover it. Yeah it was indeed Nick Briggs that did the continuity announcements. There was also an interview with him where he turned himself into a Dalek mid-way through the interview (modulation and all) and back again. It went out twice, just before 0630 (the programme now starts at 0600 on Saturdays) and again at about 0850 or so (just after, in fact, my piece on the M4 motorway protest) You can hear both that interview and Robert Shearman's on the listen again function of the Five Live sitehere."

In the run up to the General Election as part of it's pro-Labour Party stance the Daily Mirror is running an ongoing item called "EXTORY-MINATE!" in which a marginal Conservative Party member is pictured in the sights of a 60s Dalek with details of his/her slim majority. The "Daily Mirror" also ran a similar campaign in the last General Election called "Exterminate A Tory" which had the dome of a Dalek replaced by Conservative Party Leader William Hague's head (complete with eye-stalk protruding from his forehead!).

The Sunday Mirror's page three lead was a picture exclusive of Billie Piper - headlined "Thrillie Piper" - while filming her role as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing on the south coast for the BBC, but with the wind catching her skirt and revealing more than we're used to seeing. It was likened to the famous picture of Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. The paper also had a piece about David Walliams writing for the next series of Doctor Who, which is on the website here

The Sunday Express lampooned the forthcoming general election by tapping into the topicality of the Daleks and having a near-half-page cartoon of the three main party leaders as Daleks chasing a terrified Britannia-type figure to a polling station. Meanwhile, its TV reviewer, David Stephenson, asked if the Dalek had "gone all touchy-feely". Calling Doctor Who "the hit of the year so far", his piece, in which he said he felt sorry for the creature, was illustrated with a decent-sized photo of Rose touching the Dalek. His Quote of the Week, at the bottom of the page, was "Elevate!" from the episode.

Saturday night's Phil Williams show on BBC Radio 5 Live featured (very positive) listener reaction to the Dalek episode plus an interview with former Dalek voice artist Roy Skelton. Skelton talked about his extensive career in voice work, including his years on Doctor Who and Rainbow, and refuted the suggestion that the new episode was the first instance of a Dalek going up stairs. He spoke of his appreciation for the new series and for the work of current voice of the Daleks Nicky (sic) Briggs. The interview, which took place just after midnight, can still be heard by following the link to the Phil Williams show from the 5 Live website.

The Sunday Sport ran a double page colour centre-spread yesterday with an adult-themed headline (think the Dalek cry of "Exterminate" but...) featuring 'the star of last night's Doctor Who' - a Dalek - in about a dozen poses with a topless model. The article that accompanied this covered the return of the Daleks the night before, and revealed that in addition to being able to 'Elevate' up stairs, the Dalek could now apparently copulate, as the pictures attempted to prove.

The News of the World says Christopher Eccleston and Siwan Morris are an item again. It pictures them on holiday in Cornwall taking a stroll, hand in hand, and with bikes near Porthleven.

More press coverage: More on David Walliams writing for Doctor Who atDigital Spy; The Sun interviews Ian Clarke, who is "the only person the BBC has licensed to construct and sell Daleks" with his firm, This Planet Earth; and the Daily Record says that "Britain's best bachelor pad" is available for rental next door to Billie Piper's flat in Cardiff.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, John Bowman, Andy Parish, Jamie Austin, Paul Hayes, Rowan Bridge, Roderick Cobley, Gregg Smith, Steve Hatcher, David Traynier, Mark Gardiner, Rich Kirkpatrick)

The initial overnight ratings are in for Dalek, episode six of the new series broadcast Saturday night... and it's great news! "Dalek" was not only the top of its time slot for the evening, with an average viewership of 7.83 million viewers and a 42.73% viewer share, but was in fact the most watched British television show on Saturday, day or night! The episode peaked at 8.73 million viewers (45.9% share). Its competition on ITV, "Celebrity Wrestling," scores 3.05 million viewers, 17.73% viewer share. The usual Saturday night ratings winner, "Casualty," had 7.3 million viewers, leaving it in second place for the evening. As usual, these ratings will be adjusted next week when the BARB releases its final viewing numbers for the night. (Thanks to Steve Berry, Keith Armstrong, Roger Anderson)

Doctor Who has won the ratings war every week against ITV after all: according to the BARB final numbers on the ratings for Aliens of London, Doctor Who had 7.63 million viewers, compared to 7.37 million for the season finale of "Ant and Dec". Originally, Doctor Who had fewer reported viewers in the overnights, but the BARB figures - the final total ratings for each broadcast - add in timeshifted viewing. This means that Doctor Who has won its timeslot in every broadcast since the debut on March 26.

In Canada, yesterday's ratings for episode four, "Aliens of London," scored 849,000 viewers on the overnight reports, a small slip from the previous week's 878,000 but nothing major. "Doctor Who" is still #2 for the timeslot across Canada and #4 in all of primetime for Tuesday nights.

According to Yahoo News (and also mentioned in the Independent),Christopher Eccleston is becoming an ambassador for the learning disability charity Mencap. "Learning disability used to be known as 'mental handicap' but times change and people with a learning disability now find the old term offensive," says Eccleston. "I am very proud and excited to become an ambassador for Mencap and will do my best to justify such an honour." Eccleston first became aware of the issue when he researched his role in the 1991 film, Let Him Have It.

Issue 14 of British Cinematographer, the April 2005 edition, features a two page piece: "On the job - behind the scenes of the new Dr Who series with Ernest Vincze BSC".

The Brighton Evening Argus yesterday noted that "Daleks will invade pier in summer" discussing a Doctor Who exhibition taking place at Brighton's Pleasure Dome from May until October. We hope to bring you further details on this exhibition shortly. The Daleks will also appear at an exhibition at the Churnet Valley Railway this bank holiday weekend; a full-size Dalek will be looking for humans to exterminate in the waiting rooms of the railway's Cheddleton, Kingsley and Froghall stations on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, and details on that are available at the railway website.

Newsquest Media Group today has a story about an extra in next week's "Dalek" episode. "Aspiring actor Oliver Hopkins gets exterminated on his first-ever television appearance - and he couldn't be more delighted. For 19-year-old Oliver's assassins are none other than the deadly Dr Who villains, the Daleks! Meeting his fate at close proximity to some of the small screen's most famous baddies has been a thrilling experience for the former Greenhill School and Pembrokeshire College student. 'I'm on the book of Phoenix Agency in Swansea and had a day's work as an extra for the filming of Dr Who, in Newport,' explained Oliver, of Cambrian Cottages, Stepaside. 'It was really good fun.' As well as meeting the show's stars, Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston, Oliver was able to see the workings of a Dalek and stood inside the famous Tardis. Now he is keeping his fingers crossed that his TV debut gets screened. 'I'm pretty realistic about the fact it could be edited out, or you might only get to see my arm,' he admitted. 'But even so, I've had a brilliant experience and it won't look bad on my CV.'"

David Tennant was interviewed briefly by phone on the XFM radio station this morning. Amongst other things, he suggested that Casanova was his audition for Doctor Who and he didn't actually need to audition for the Doctor. He's excited but daunted by being the Doctor, thinks Eccleston and the new series are fantastic, and managed to plug Big Finish in the same breath as knocking the 'rubbish' that's appeared in the press in the last few weeks. You can hear the full interview at the XFM website.

Other press mentions: a vicar is ready to swap the pulpit for the TARDIS according to the Northwest Evening Mail; more reports of Peter Davison's comments about Christopher Eccleston, which we reported yesterday, atDigitalSpyand WaveGuide; the Sun comments further on the ratings win over Celebrity Wrestling and the upcoming "Dalek" episode; "Let Doctor Who give us a fright" says the Bristol Evening Post; and more news about ABC's pickup of the new series in Australia at the Courier Mail.

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Rod Mammitzsch, David Guest, Steve Tribe, Chuck Foster, John Bowman and Mike Noon)

A year ago, a new radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy secured the front cover of the Radio Times; this week, the next batch of radio episodes, a rerun of the 1981 television series and the release of the movie - along with the UK general election - all have to make way for VOTE DALEK! The foldout cover recreates one of the classic 1964 "Daleks invade London" shots (and is also being made available as a double-sided "giant" poster available to readers in exchange for a couple of tokens from the magazine. Daleks are everywhere in this week's edition, beginning with the Editor's Letter (page 3), which reckons that the real choice next week is not whether to re-elect the government but whether to cast your vote for the Daleks by pressing the button for BBC1 on Saturday. "The week's best television" (page 4) is headed by Saturday's episode: "One of the television's greatest icons is back on the box - and it's not very happy. But we are, just to see a Dalek head to head with the Doc once more." There are a couple of reader's letters (page 9) of interest, one complaining that Aliens of London's cliffhanger "was immediately spoilt by the preview of the second half of the story", another noting that the final moments of Casanova were ruined when "some crass programmer decided that was the moment to plug the return of Phil Mitchell to EastEnders." (This issue is also commented on by Alison Graham on page 61, with a nice photo montage of Phil Mitchell apparently attacking Casanova.) David Tennant, kilted, glass in hand and leaning against a poster of the Radio Times TARDIS cover of six weeks ago, is the main photo in a feature on the Bafta TV awards; he "revealed that he'd landed the role [...] months ago: 'It's been very hard keeping it a secret.' And would he last longer than Eccleston? 'I would love to do hundreds of episodes, but let's get through the first year before we think about that.'" (This may well be the first accurate transcription of what he actually said that night!) The big feature on Dalek begins on page 18 - four pages of photographs, details about the new Dalek design, an interview with Rob Shearman and comments from Bruno Langley, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper and Nick Briggs. "When I wrote the first Dalek episode, I wasn't sure that 'Ex-ter-min-ate!' wasn't a bit silly. So I put it in a couple of times but I didn't really want it to be ranted," says Shearman, who admits his "softly softly" approach didn't go down well with executive producer Russell T Davies. "Russell's notes came back saying, 'Why not? I want to have kids in the playground saying Ex-termin-ate! all the time.' Of course, he was right." There's also a plug for BBC Books' Monsters and Villains paperback, available to order from RT Direct (ú7.99 incl. p&p). Dalek also restores Doctor Who to Pick of the Day in Saturday's Choices (page 62), with a large photo and preview: "So, the story we've all been waiting for, and it's a dream set-up [...] The mechanised monster has been majestically refurbished, and has some new tricks hidden under its beefed-up carapace [...] It's full of intriguing backstory and cool effects, but it's also quite intense [...] How great to see the Dalek back, though. CE-LE-BRATE!" The same page has a short piece ("The Inside Story") on the brief period last year when "it looked as if the Daleks would never be back". Rob Shearman is quoted again, saying, "We came up with a major villain that would have made the series slightly different [...] I daresay Russell will bring it back. He won't want that surprise spoilt." A Dalek heads the BBC1 listings column for Saturday (page 64), the blurb for the episode itself reading: "Rose finds herself caught in the middle of a fight to the death when the Time Lord's oldest and deadliest enemy rises once again." Doctor Who Confidential is listed on the facing page: "The Daleks have been the nemesis of the Time Lord since they first appeared - complete with sucker, ray gun and bad attitude - in 1963. Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Christopher Eccleston are among the Doctors talking about four decades of attempting to avoid extermination."

Ratings are in for the weekend's other broadcasts: according to ViewingFigures, Doctor Who Confidential on Saturday night had 425,350 viewers, with 355,500 watching the Sunday repeat, while the repeats ofWorld War Three (episode five) scored 168,000 viewers in the overnight broadcast (shown after midnight on early Sunday morning) and 477,030 viewers for Sunday at 7pm. Once again the figures were high in the multi channel ratings; "Confidential" was second in its timeslot with a 3.35% viewing share, beaten only by "The Simpsons" on Sky One, while the repeat showings on Sunday of "World War III" and "Confidential" were placed third and fourth with a 3.50% and 2.34% viewing share, again beaten only by programs from Sky One. We are also told that the figures on BBC3 for Doctor Who are the best the channel have had since it was launched.

Dalek, episode six coming this weekend, is reviewed by this week's The Observer. "At last we have an episode of Doctor Who to cherish and it's no coincidence that it features the return of one of the Doctor's oldest and most ruthless foes: a Dalek (above).... Veteran Who writer and Dalek enthusiast Robert Shearman has delivered a polished script which eclipses all those which have preceded it in this series.... Excellent." Yesterday's News Of The World also had an article about 'Dalek' which included two picture spoilers, one of which was a large image of the Dalek with its casing open.

The Press Association newswire featured a story today interviewing Bruno Langley, who plays Adam in the next two episodes of the series. "Not everyone can claim to have been chased down a corridor by a Dalek screaming `Exterminate!', but for Bruno Langley - best known for his role as Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street - it was all in a day's work on the set of Doctor Who," says the article. As Langley says, "When they brought the Dalek onto the set, it was really exciting and everyone was taking photos. I do remember [Doctor Who] being on, but it was a bit before my time. I liked Alien and Terminator and stuff like that." Langley notes that his character, boy genius Adam Mitchell, notes that stairs aren't a problem for the Daleks. "I get the Doctor and Rose into a bit of trouble because I like meddling with things. Him thinking he's a genius gets him into bother." He also notes that the door is left open for Adam. "There's a chance of me coming back if the storyline allows it. I'd love to do it." He and Billie Piper "got on great - I was working with her for two months. She's a great girl. I think she's really got a lot going for her. She should probably make her way to America soon. I think Adam's more interested in technology side of things. Of course he fancies Rose, she's a gorgeous girl, but he's got more on his mind."

In today's Express: "BBC bosses, obliged to advise under-eights to watch the new Doctor Who with their parents following complaints that the show was too scary, should have extended the warning to yellow-bellied MPs. Shadow education secretary Tim Collins, 40, a well-known fan of the Timelord, admits: 'I love the new series - I find it scary. I'm still running behind the sofa in the same way I did when I was a child.'" The Express on Sunday, meanwhile, printed spoilers this past weekend about the forthcoming episode, but also comments from Christopher Eccleston: "The Daleks are burnt into our consciousness as children, " says Eccleston. "I must admit, the first day I walked on set and was confronted by a Dalek, my heart missed a beat." Mark Gatiss, who wrote "The Unquiet Dead," sayid that "No series would be the same without [the Daleks]. When Chris Eccleston tells you they're terrifying, they're terrifying." And Nick Briggs, who did the voices, says, "I love the Daleks because they're truly scary. Of course, if a dustbin came into this room, you'd laugh but if it then spoke in that terrifying voice about exterminating you and blasted away at you with its ray-gun, you wouldn't be laughing any more."

Christopher Bidmead, former Doctor Who script editor in the late 1970's/early 1980's, wrote an article for today'sDaily Telegraph. "'This is quality television,' my 13-year-old daughter Evie cried out in the middle of episode three of the new Doctor Who series. Like me, she's been impressed by the delicious special effects, the fast-moving action and the witty juxtaposition of street cred and fantasy sci-fi. Yes, OK, quality television indeed. But is it 'Doctor Who'? I ask her. And, of course, she doesn't understand the question. At the end of 1979, as Tom Baker was nearing the end of his time as the Doctor, the BBC invited me in to talk about the post of script editor for the upcoming series. I'd been scriptwriting for a commercial TV soap opera, and had done a few science features for New Scientist. Somebody at the BBC had jumped to the conclusion that this combination might equip me to steer the Doctor in his adventures through time and space for a season or two. That someone turned out to be executive producer Barry Letts. I got the job, I think, because Barry and I saw eye-to-eye on one important point - during the '70s Doctor Who had become just too silly. A distinguished producer of the show in earlier days, Barry recalled the ideas behind its launch: the Doctor exemplified for young viewers the power of scientific thinking to solve problems. Science stretched into fantastic future shapes, yes, but the show had a serious social purpose. It must never be silly, never be mere magic. In the following months, I sweated away behind a row of telephones in Union House, Shepherd's Bush, recruiting my contingent of writers. (Nigel 'Quatermass' Kneale, the first candidate on my ambitious list, hated the show and hung up on me.) Inevitably, the influence of earlier seasons still hung over us, and much of the work was stripping out those tendencies from the new scripts. Instead of 'bafflegab' that allowed the good Doctor to rescue his party by deftly 'reversing the positron flow', we tried to build our stories on solid, if fancifully extended, scientific ideas. Ironically, the previous Doctor Who script editor, Douglas Adams, had crammed his own Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with real scientific concepts, although stretched to their breaking point and beyond. But, when it came to Doctor Who, it seemed he was happy for the show to continue along the psychedelic course set for it through the '70s. Our purging of silliness from the show wasn't just political correctness. It made the stories much better. The Doctor's 'sonic screwdriver', for example, was magical baggage we had to lose. A pen-sized gizmo that could blast through tempered steel, translate Azurian into English, and fend off the Karturi by generating an impenetrable neutron dome might be just the ticket in real life, but in fiction was a sure-fire story-killer. We didn't want our audience shouting out from behind the sofa 'where's the sonic screwdriver?' whenever peril threatened. We wanted a strong narrative line, and we relished the way our storylines could arc over four episodes, bristling with cliffhangers. All of which seems to be missing from the current season. Perhaps it's fear of a short audience attention span that has contracted the stories to single or double episodes. To compensate, we get snappy dialogue and a couple of cracking lead actors who do a lot of running around. If a quarter of a century ago the first two laws of Doctor Who were 'Science' and 'Story', then the third was 'Keep It Special'. It might be a super sight gag, or a spooky spine tingle, but if it had shades of Benny Hill, or The Prisoner, out it went. And that, for me, is why today's Doctor Who just isn't Doctor Who. But every time my daugher Evie spots this season's debt to something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for her it just adds to the fun. So what do I know?"

The Mirror notes that Christopher Eccleston "has come under fire from former Doctor Who star Peter Davison for quitting after just one series. He accused the 41-year-old actor of 'letting down' the show as fans won't enjoy it as much knowing that he is leaving. Davison, 54 - who played the doctor from 1982 for three series - added: "He is letting down the programme. His commitment should have been for at least a couple, maybe three, series. I hate to see, after all the effort that went into getting the programme back on TV, Doctor Who scuppered by an actor saying 'I don't want to do this anymore'. ... It is now difficult for people to watch knowing he has walked out on the show. I don't think you can engage with the new doctor in the way you should be able to.'" Sky News, Contact Music and Ananova have also picked up the article.

Today's Mirror also notes that "Billie Piper hasn't been studying her Dr Who handbook. The actress was quizzed by Christian O'Connell on his Xfm breakfast show about the return of the Daleks in next week's episode. But, embarrassingly, the 22-year-old - who plays the Timelord's sidekick Rose Tyler in the hit BBC1 show - didn't have a clue that Davros was the evil creator of the Daleks. Billie said she hadn't watched any of the series. 'I'm usually out socialising. I'm going to wait and watch the whole box set in one go,' she said. But when Christian asked her if Davros is still in charge of the Daleks, she answered: 'Who's that?' O'Connell replied: 'Oh Billie! Have a word with yourself.'"

An interesting letter in yesterday's South Wales Echo corrects information reported earlier in the paper about location filming on "The Unquiet Dead," episode three. "I would like to point out that not all the episode was filmed in Swansea... A great deal of the internal and some external scenes were actually filmed at the Headlands National Children's Home in Penarth," writes school principal Dave Haswell. "We would like to thank the BBC production team for allowing our children and staff here at Headlands to view the film sets and props that were used, our children found them amazing. The principle actors Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper and Simon Callow were only too happy to sign autographs and chat with our children between filming. We at Headlands wish the Doctor Who series all the best for the future."

The Sunday Times political gossip column, "Atticus" reported yesterday that the Labour Party had made an informal approach to Christopher Eccleston to elicit his support for the election campaign, but had been politely refused û on the grounds that as a high profile BBC TV star, he had to remain neutral. It also suggested that the Tories thought he might support them (!) on the grounds that Tim Collins had thrown his weight behind the show. Also, in the Time's "Culture" magazine, Doctor Who is selected as one of the "Set Your Video For This" items, with the simple tagline: "One Word For You: Daleks"!. It also appears in the picks of the day for Saturday 30th April, with a mention of the Daleks ability to go up stairs.

Russell T Davies is interviewed in the May edition of Gay Times magazine. In the two-page article he discusses the ratings success of the new series ("No-one ever expected those viewing figures. No-one in even the most drunken meeting ever thought that."), why he didn't watch 'Rose' when it aired on BBC1, the Dr Who-obsessed character Vince from the original U.K. version of Queer As Folk, the appeal of Dr Who to gay men, and the presence of sexuality in the new series. On the first showing of 'Rose' on BBC1 he says: "Some friends asked me to come over so I ended up going to their house and getting pissed. We didn't watch it. The week before, we screened the first episode for the DVD trade mags - and that was the 373rd time for me. That's when I thought, 'I'm sick of seeing it'. But I'd shown it to my friends a couple of months before, and they really liked it." On Vince from Queer As Folk: "He was an easy character to write because I knew what he'd go home and do. And I was sick of seeing Doctor Who fans on TV with long scarves, so I wanted to take a really sexy young man and make him a Doctor Who fan - and, most importantly, have all his friends know about it. He wasn't in the closet about it at all, he could talk openly about how he really loved 'The Tenth Planet'." On sexuality in the new series, he says: "We do get someone calling the Doctor 'gay' for the first time in Doctor Who's history. He's moaning about just being slapped by someone and he's going on about it, so Rose says, 'You're so gay'. There we are: that's a first. The whole thing is set in 2005, so there's a much more open understanding of sexuality [than in the original series]." And he makes a couple of comments about one of the characters from later in the series, Captian Jack: "The story doesn't discuss it explicitly, but quite obviously he'd sleep with anyone. One of my favourite bits is where Jack thinks he's going to his death, and he does a big 'goodbye' speech to Rose and gives her a kiss, then does a big speech to the Doctor and gives him a kiss. Just a little kiss. His character's from the 51st century, so I thought, 'If we're not like that in the 51st century, when will we be?'. No-one's made a fuss about it, because it's been done really naturally and it's really funny, as well." Russell also praises up-coming guest star Bruno Langley, and then finally concludes that, "The whole show is stunning; it's everything I ever wanted to make. It's so colourful; so big and bold - and you wouldn't think it was shot in Cardiff."

The Guardian says that "BBC1 floors Celebrity Wrestling," reporting on the weekend's ratings debacle for ITV: "ITV1's audience share fell below 17% on Saturday when its two new entertainment shows were trounced in the ratings. Celebrity Wrestling, despite all the pre-launch hype, failed to topple BBC1's Doctor Who, while ITV1's Hell's Kitchen sank to its second lowest audience so far. ITV's decision to replace Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway with a string of grappling D-listers failed to pay off - Celebrity Wrestling attracted just 3.8 million viewers and a scant 21% share. Ant and Dec signed off with a bang last week, beating Doctor Who for the first time in four weeks and helping ITV1 to an all-hours share of 20.8%. Saturday Night Takeaway, averaging an audience of more than 7.1 million, nudged ahead of Doctor Who, which pulled 7 million viewers, its lowest audience to date. This week, however, BBC1's timelord attracted nearly twice as many viewers as Celebrity Wrestling." Broadcast Now also covers this.

A CBBC News poll shows that Doctor Who and The Simpsons are tied for first place on "What is your favourite TV programme?" (at least, at press time). Both shows lead with 15.25% of the vote.

The Daily Star said yesterday that Billie Piper "got her revenge on estranged husband Chris Evans - by setting the Daleks on him. She got one of the telly baddies to shout: 'Exterminate! Exterminate!' down the phone at him. The sexy actress kept playing the prank on the 38-year-old media tycoon at the height of their marriage troubles while she was filming the hit BBC sci-fi series. Billie, 22, who plays the Doctor's sidekick Rose in the show, kept asking the man behind the Daleks' voices on the show to speak into her mobile. He would give callers - including Evans - a shock by uttering the evil Daleks' notorious catchphrase. Actor Nicholas Briggs, 35, revealed: 'Billie came up to me on set with her mobile and she'd tell the person on the other end, "There's someone to speak to you." Then she'd hand over the phone and I'd go, "Exterminate! Exterminate! You are an enemy of the Daleks!" She did it with all her friends. Billie also asked me if I'd record her voicemail message, so she could tell callers they'd be exterminated if they didn't leave a message." It also notes that Barnaby Edwards, who operated the Dalek, said Billie spent hours chatting to him about her life - while he was stuck inside the mechanical monster. "Billie was great. She would lean on the Dalek and we'd chat about all sorts. I can't reveal what, though!"

"Take me to your earth leader. Exterminate!" says today's Times. "So what has Russell T. Davies, chief writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, got against Tony Blair?" the newspaper asks, discussing a plot point about the aliens in the two-part story "Aliens of London" and "World War Three"... and saying that the aliens have a habit of "only revealing their true selves when they lie." We must wonder exactly who at the Times is watching the show... since the idea that the aliens reveal themselves when they lie was a rumor reported last summer -- and it's not true, as the rumor was later debunked by Russell T Davies!

Some additional press clips today: the Guardian notes that "Christopher Eccleston's replacements are already auditioning on ITV," discussing the ITV series "Hit Me Baby One More Time" which shows on Saturday nights; today'sDaily Record repeats interview comments from David Tennant; the Cool Stuff section in this weekÆs Sci Fi Weekly is all about the new Dr Who miniatures, written by fan writer Sean Huxter; the Ask Men website currently features a Doctor Who montage as their video of the day from April 18 (but it's still available now); Leeds Today discusses the police box that has "put a little corner of Yorkshire in the spotlight," noting that "Wetherby Police Station's old-fashioned 1950s style police box is a dead ringer for Dr Who's Tardis û and is attracting a flow of visitors and fans of the time lord"; theDaily Record says that "Billie Piper wishes she had a sofa to hide behind as a Dalek has her in its sights" discussing this weekend's new episode; and theofficial Doctor Who Website has once again been updated to include photos and details on "Dalek" in advance of the broadcast.

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Andy Parish, Simon Mapp, Adam Williams, Steven Perry, Assad Khaishgi, Sean Parnell)

The preliminary overnight ratings for World War Three are in: 7.3 million people watched the episode last evening. More importantly, "Doctor Who" shattered its competition: the first installment of ITV's "Celebrity Wrestling" only received 3.8 million viewers, a significant drop (of over 50%) from the previous ITV occupant of the time slot, "Ant and Dec." ViewingFigures doesn't have the regular overnights up yet, for some reason; these figures come from reports on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum by the editors of "Doctor Who Magazine".

Update 24 April 1830 GMT: "Doctor Who" averaged a more precise 7.26 million viewers with an audience share of 38.0%, peaking at 7.90 million viewers during the broadcast. "Celebrity Wrestling" averaged 3.8 million as noted, peaking at 4.3 million, audience share 20.8%. "Doctor Who" in fact had the highest audience share of the whole of Saturday, day and night, and was second only to "Casualty" in total ratings. (Thanks to Ian Levine, Steve Berry, Tom Spilsbury)

The official ratings for The Unquiet Dead were released by BARB: 8.86 million viewers officially watched the show; it was the fifth most watched program of the week, beaten only by multiple episodes of "Coronation Street," "EastEnders," "Emmerdale" and "Heartbeat." The show actually came in at number 15 for the week, though three of the other four series (except "Heartbeat") show multiple episodes weekly. These final ratings include viewers who recorded the program for viewing later in the week.

Overnight ratings from the Tuesday airing this week of "The Unquiet Dead" on CBC in Canada show that 878,000 viewers tuned in for the episode, down very slightly from "The End of the World." Once again Doctor Who was #2 in it's timeslot and #4 in primetime; the Tuesday night winner was "The Amazing Race" which switched places with last week's winner "American Idol," which now sits in second place for the night.

In Australia, ABC television has started its campaign promoting the new Doctor Who; on Wednesday, April 20, just after they screened the BBC comedy "Nighty Night," they showed a general "trailer" for their broadcast of the new series in May, which included clips from Doctor Who (only from Rose, it seems). Just before the next program, local comedy news commentary "The Glasshouse," they played a five-second teaser which was simply a shot of the TARDIS materialising with green text typing itself on the screen saying "Guess who's back!"

Radio Times will be releasing a Doctor Who special, focused on the Daleks, next Tuesday, to coincide with the broadcast of the forthcoming Dalek episode of the new series. (Radio Times will have a direct advert link from these pages during that time so you'll be able to order it directly if you don't already get it!)

Today's Sun features spoilers for the forthcoming episode "Dalek" which we've reproduced in the spoiler tag at the end of this column. Accompanied by a picture of Rose with the chained-up Dalek and a smaller picture of Billie Piper, both story and headlines give extensive plot details about the episode - due to air in the UK on April 30 - and there are huge spoilers.

Channel 4 chat show Richard and Judy had a 14-minute slot on Thursday featuring Sylvester McCoy and Nick Briggs to promote "Dalek." The section started with a clip from the next episode - World War Three - with the Doctor confronting the Slitheen, which was followed by a pre-filmed insert of a vox pop of members of the public saying how much they liked Doctor Who both old and new style. Asked for his thoughts on the new series, McCoy was generally in favour, commenting that he was envious of the equipment and technology now available. He said that he became hooked after being sent a DVD of the first episode to review for BBCi, but added that he wasn't very keen on the new interior of the TARDIS. Briggs, who voices the Dalek in the episode to be shown in the UK on 30 April, told of the "really lovely atmosphere" on set, and said that there was "proper character stuff" in his dialogue exchanges with the Doctor and Rose. The ring modulator device, used to produce the distinctive Dalek speech pattern, was shown, then later demonstrated, followed by a clip from McCoy's adventure Remembrance of the Daleks. Viewers were reminded that the Daleks' ability to "fly" was shown in Remembrance, and then an "exclusive preview" clip - lasting one minute seven seconds - from Dalek was shown. McCoy was asked what he was doing now (touring in Arsenic and Old Lace) and Briggs managed to get a quick mention for the Big Finish range of audio CDs. The new DVD and BBC CDs were briefly highlighted. At the end of the slot, it was announced that Billie Piper would be appearing live on the show on Friday 29 April. Richard and Judy normally airs at 5pm.

Blue Peter will also have another Doctor Who event on the same day, April 29. "The gang go behind the scenes of Doctor Who, the destination for this year's summer expedition is revealed, Rooster perform in the studio and Meg has an exciting piece of news."

The lead story for TV Biz in today's The Sun says that the stars of top British comedy series Little Britain - David Walliams and Matt Lucas - are to have cameo roles in the next series of Doctor Who, which begins filming in July. According to the Sun story, Lucas - who appeared in Russell T Davies's period romp Casanova - is pals with David Tennant. Walliams is also said to be a Doctor Who fan. Lucas and Walliams won two Baftas on Sunday, and a source was quoted as saying: "David Tennant was mobbed at the Baftas on Sunday night. He had a long line of celebs queuing [sic] up at his table to congratulate him on getting the part. Everyone was begging, 'Get me on the show.'" The story was accompanied by a mock-up picture of Lucas and Walliams sitting in Davros casings, with Lucas in character as Little Britain gay character Dafydd and saying: "I'm the only gay in the Daleks" - parodying his character's catchphrase "I'm the only gay in the village." Walliams's image merely says: "Ahem!" There was no sign of the story being posted on The Sun's internet site. Walliams was also pictured as Little Britain character hotelier Ray McClooney. Little Britain already has a strong Doctor Who link in Tom Baker, who has provided the narration for both series, and both Walliams and Lucas have appeared in "Big Finish" audios ("Phantasmagoria" and "The One Doctor," respectively). The story has also been reported on Ananova which reports that pop star Will Young also wants to make a comedy appearance in the new series, as well as on Sky News.

A clarification about Eve Myles, which we reported the other day was going to appear in "Belonging," a BBC Wales series, according to reports in the Daily Star. Says our correspondent Dean Braithwaite: "The Daily Star piece makes it sound as if this is a new, one-off part for her, which is not the case. Eve has played Ceri Lewis - one of the main characters in Belonging, a BBC Wales drama - since it began in 1999. The current series - series 6 - is airing on BBC1 on Wednesdays at 10.50 pm and the digital channel BBC2W on Thursdays at 9 pm. Series 7 is currently in production. (NB: not to be confused with the one-off ITV1 drama Belonging, starring Brenda Blethyn, which aired in 2004.) Eve Myles is lovely and her character very feisty. Anyone intersested can read more about Belonging at its BBC website where there are biogs and photos of all the characters. Belonging is a brilliant series that, unfortunately, does not air in the rest of the UK. Anyone living in Wales, however, should seek this series out!"

Could Billie Piper leave the series sometime during the next season? That's the rumor on the Popbitch gossip column site, which reportedly notes that actress who plays Rose might leave at some point next season, following in the footsteps of Christopher Eccleston. However, we should stress that this is only hearsay and rumor and hasn't been confirmed anywhere. Piper, meanwhile, was named on the "World's 100 Sexiest Women" poll in FHM magazine this week, coming in at number 62.

Next week's Radio Times features an article regarding the ratings of "The End of the World" and the departure of Christopher Eccleston. "It was inevitable that the second episode of Doctor Who would shed a significant proportion of its viewers. Doubtless, a great number of the 2.6 million people who decided not to bother with episode two had satisfied their curiosity the week before, while others were perhaps enjoying some 'unseasonably hot weather' and doing whatever people do in 'unseasonably hot weather'. But I wonder just how many of those 'missing' 2.6 million people had walked away after taking umbrage with the show's star Christopher Eccleston, who, we learnt just days after his Doctor Who debut on BBC 1, won't be returning to the role for a second series. The outcry after the BBC confirmed that Eccieston wouldn't do a second series was immediate and spectacular. Venom was tipped by the bucketload. Eccieston was pilloried on internet fansites, called 'the most hated man in science fiction', and became the subject of disproportionately huge, spiteful features in national newspapers. The news was disappointing, of course, and the timing of the announcement was poor, leaving viewers to sit through the remaining 12 episodes knowing full well that its star has no wish to return. (It turns out the BBC made the revelation as a response to journalists' questions, and without consulting the actor first about the nature of its official statement.) But treating Eccleston almost as if he's a war criminal shows an absurd lack of perspective, particularly in an age when the 13 episodes he's filmed would amount to two series of most other dramas. Still, despite all the nonsense, there are some lessons here. Audiences can be very proprietorial about their TV heroes, and Doctor Who devotees are probably the most committed of all. (On radio, The Archers is similarly treasured by its fans, who take very personally what happens in Ambridge.) And no one likes their heroes to be slighted or mucked around. If there's one thing to be learnt about the extreme reaction to Eccieston's decision, it's that audiences' affections are not to be trifled with. But the point about heroes is that they endure. Doctor Who survived years in the wilderness after being kicked off air, and he will return in another incarnation. In short: calm down, dear, he's only a Time Lord."

Is Toby Whithouse writing for the second season of the new series? There are rumors that suggest that he might be one of the writers from several sources, although nothing has been confirmed. Whithouse was one of the creators and writers of the Channel 4 series "No Angels" as well as a writer on "Attachments" and "Where the Heart Is"; he's also an actor who appeared in "Bridget Jones' Diary" and "RKO 281". We report only for the sake of completeness...

There has been a small update to the official Doctor Who website, introducing a panel of children aged four to twelve, which they call their "Fear Forecasters," who are giving ratings for the scariness of the episodes.

The BBC Press Office has today released the fifth phase of its Doctor Whopress pack, featuring interviews with Rob Shearman, Bruno Langley and Nick Briggs, with three new colour photographs from episode six. The interviews contain mild spoilers for the episode.

A reporter for the Northern Echo noted this week that seeing Prime Minister Tony Blair on "Ant and Dec" caused the journalist to think to himself, "He should've gone on Doctor Who on the BBC because that programme gets a bigger audience". "But any publicity is good publicity during an election campaign, even if the Doctor shouted, 'If you want aliens, you've got them - they're in Downing Street'," he noted.

The Daily Star notes that the next Doctor, David Tennant, is now involved with Sarah Parish of "Cutting It." "The couple couldn't hide their fast-developing relationship at Sunday's TV bash where they chatted and cuddled in the plush ballroom. And after David, who hails from Paisley, had blagged some freebies they left at midnight to start celebrating his 34th birthday... in private. Sarah, 35, fell for the charming thesp when they played lovers in musical drama Blackpool. They only became an item after filming finished, but the chemistry on set was there for all to see. A source told us: 'All the singing and dancing in the show really lowered inhibitions. It had to because most of the actors had never done anything like it before. ... There was such a rapport between them after that. Everyone was saying they should get together."

The Daily Record comments that Doctor Who has always been a thriller. "So what if kids were so frightened they had to hide behind the sofa?," writes a reader to the paper, discussing the reports about comments that "The Unquiet Dead" was too scary. "Millions of us were scared witless in the '60s, '70s and '80s and were, at times, hiding behind the sofa. As far as I know, it didn't do any of us damage. The real problem is the adults who complained. If they really have an issue about the show why didn't they just switch off immediately? Doctor Who is back for a reason - to entertain, excite and frighten. Surely the adults who complained knew beforehand about the episode, there was plenty in the Press and clips on the TV, even after the previous episode. Doctor Who is here to stay - fresh, exciting and scary. It's fantastic." We say bravo to the writer, C. Watson of Ayrshire.

Yesterday's National Post in Canada printed an article (which was also included in many local papers including the Edmonton Journal and the Montreal Gazette) called "That Dickens of a Doctor" that called Charles Dickens an "action hero" in "The Unquiet Dead." In its review, the National Post said that "watching the confident revival of one of the UK's most silly and beloved serials has been one of the pleasures of the TV year so far. ... Not so long ago, Doctor Who was presumed dead and buried. No one could have anticipated the magnificent journey it has become. Like the hapless Sneed, Doctor Who writer Russell Davies has succeeded in bringing the dead back to life. Who knew?" Also, theToronto Star ran a piece noting that ratings in Canada are up for "This is Wonderland" on CBC, which airs Tuesdays at 9pm, thanks to its new lead-in, Doctor Who. And this week after the broadcast of "Unquiet Dead" on CBC, as usual Christopher Eccleston made recorded comments ("hope you liked this week's Doctor Who"), then introduced some behind the scenes clips while the credits rolled... and during the credits it was noted that the production credit was "BBC Wales in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation," perhaps the first official indication of co-production that's been displayed.

Some other stories of note: FilmForce discusses the rumors about Tennant's salary; the TypePad, Monsters and Critics and Sky Showbiz sites all discuss Eccleston's casting in the "Da Vinci Code" movie (which we've reported about this week); and the Forbidden Planet website has a collection of images of items they state will be official Doctor Who merchandise released later this year.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, John Bowman, Chuck Foster, Steve Hatcher, Mike Doran, Chris Winwood, Ian O'Brien, Dean Braithwaite, Graham Kibble-White, Robert Booth, Michael Davoren, Mustafa Hirji, Simon Burt, Benjamin McKenzie and Rod Mammitzsch)

Aliens of London scored a preliminary viewer rating of 6.98 million overnight, with a 33.9% share, peaking at one point at 7.53 million in the last fifteen minutes. The "Ant and Dec" show beat it slightly with 7.12 million (35.5%) share (peaking at 7.8 million in the last fifteen minutes.) It is important to note that "Ant and Dec" broadcast its season finale last night, and also that the BBC has tapered back its publicity for "Doctor Who" over the past week. Final viewing figures will be out within a week.

A very brief update today...

The final BARB ratings have come in for episode two, The End of the World: the episode scored a 7.97, which made it the third-placed BBC1 programme of the week, behind "EastEnders" and "Match of the Day." As many people speculated at the time, it seems that viewing figures that week were down across the board and Doctor Who's showing in fact remained pretty constant against "Rose" the week before, in terms of both its placing and its audience share. This is by no means a show with plummeting audience ratings!

TV presenter John Leslie wants to be the Doctor, according to today's Sun. "The 40-year-old lost his job on This Morning in 2002 following a sex scandal, and has not worked regularly on TV since, but it is claimed he hopes to audition for the role. Bookies Ladbrokes, however, are reported as making him a 500-1 outsider, despite claims that he has cleaned up his act and shed weight to look trimmer. And an unnamed 'pal' is quoted as saying: 'There is more chance of him playing one of the monsters.'" This was also covered at Ananova.

Two minor links to report: a discussion of time travel at the Norwich Astronomical Society that mentions the Doctor who series in Norfolk Now, and a Guardian discussion on Cardiff Unviersity that mentions the Daleks.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, John Bowman, Andrew Flynn, and Chuck Foster)

Episode three of the TV series, The Unquiet Dead was the top rated British television program on Saturday, April 9, according to preliminary overnight ratings figures from ViewingFigures. Doctor Who was viewed by an average 8,339,880 viewers, a 36% audience share, with a peak of 8,914,240 viewers. By comparison, its competition on ITV, "Ant + Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway," had only a 32% audience share with approximately 7,136,000 viewers. "Doctor Who" therefore won its timeslot for the third week in a row, increasing its viewership over the previous week, and won the night... even beating two of the UK's biggest events of the year so far, the royal wedding and "The Grand National." The BBC3 companion documentary series Doctor Who Confidential episode three also achieved positive notes, with 542,470 average viewers (peaking at 601,740), rating a 4 with a viewing share of 3.62% in the 7:30-8:30pm time slot.

It is interesting to note how the final viewing figures of "Rose," the first episode, skewed upwards from these, so these results could, in fact, be higher when all data is in. Meanwhile, Doctor Who continues to prove its worthiness as a Saturday night staple, once again trouncing the competition and being the BBC's Saturday evening ratings jewel. (Thanks to Andy Parish)