The Parting of the Ways

Yesterday's season finale, The Parting of the Ways, had 6,185,840 viewers watching... which may not seem like a lot at first, but "Doctor Who" was the top-ranked programme of Saturday night ("Casualty" only had 5.9 million) and in fact had an extremely impressive 41.77% audience share! A BBC spokesperson told BBC News that warm weather was a likely reason for less people watching TV indoors... that, despite viewing figures being down, it was still the most watched television show of the evening. "Almost half of those watching television tuned in to Doctor Who. It continues to be the most-watched television show on a Saturday night." The repeat of Doctor Who at 10.50pm Saturday night had 254,670 viewers (2.6% share). Doctor Who Confidential had 676,860 viewers immediately after "Parting of the Ways" (6.8% share, #1 in its timeslot for non-terrestrial channels) and 175,920 viewers (2.3% share) for the late night 11.35pm Saturday showing. Also, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide had approximately 2.7 million viewers immediately prior to the broadcast of "Parting".

Over the weekend the BBC main website featured a special splash page with the words "TIME IS UP... Invasion Begins Tonight BBC One 7pm".

In a report on BBC News, Russell T Davies said star Christopher Eccleston "turned around the reputation" of Doctor Who. "I love Doctor Who and I love the old Doctor Who. But, even with all that love, you have to admit that the name of the programme had become a joke and its reputation had become a cheap joke at that - you know rubber monsters and shaky sets. And Chris, as one of the country's leading actors, by being willing to step up to the line and take on that part has proved himself to be magnificent and has turned it around. So now you get actors like David Tennant who is the next generation and just about one of the best actors in the world. David himself says he wouldn't have touched this part if Chris hadn't done it because the part had become a joke. But Chris has salvaged it and made it new, and now we get to do one of the most famous parts of Doctor Who folklore - the moment when the Doctor regenerates and becomes a new person and yet stays exactly the same man." Davies also notes that "We've been talking to Billie for months now and Billie Piper is in every single episode next year. We have got a Christmas special coming up and then 13 episodes, so we are going to make 14 in total and she is in all 14 episodes." He said that the success of the show was down to imagination. "It's been everything we planned and more, and it's very rarely in life you get the chance to have that happen. I genuinely love the old series of Doctor Who and I especially went back in my mind to the 60s - you know their imagination back then was limitless. It's just now that we happen to have a chance that we have a nice budget and that we can actually show some of these things. In its heart Doctor Who was always this imaginative and it was always this big."

More reviews of "Parting of the Ways". In the Telegraph: "And so it ends - another Doctor down the vortex, another Dalek invasion foiled and a mystery at least partially solved. The first series of the revived and revitalised Doctor Who ended last night amid Wagnerian choruses and swarms of airborne Daleks hellbent on reducing mankind to a giant, fleshy puddle. I can't imagine anyone of any age coming away feeling short-changed. For 13 weeks, Doctor Who has breathed new life into that most mouldy of broadcasting concepts: family viewing. It's sent Christopher Eccleston's star soaring and it's added a deserved lustre to the crown of its chief scriptwriter, Russell T Davies....." In the Sunday Mirror: "Fair's fair - that Doctor Who finale was flawless. But it didn't make up for the six or so ropey episodes (yes you, Slitheens) we've had to endure. Fact is, Chris Eccleston was only any good when the Doctor was fighting the Daleks. And this show was only unmissable when the Daleks were in town. Which means that now the Daleks are (surely) gone forever, and despite his show-stealing cameo last night, David Tennant really has his work cut out. Still, if any man can..." In The People: "The BBC held a back-slapping Bafta screening for last night's Dr Who. Are they sure? The hit series has been fun, but it's also been flawed by feeble aliens (the Slitheen), childish fart jokes and the constant gurning of Chris Eccleston. The sci-fi has been so-so, with writer Russell T Davies relying heavily on lazy cheats like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The hottest episodes (the solo Dalek, the Victorian gas creatures) were written by other people. Russell's plotting is frequently thinner than his freakish cosmetic surgery creation Cassandra. ... The Doc has regenerated as David Tennant. Superb. Here, exclusively, is the new Who's to-do list: 1) Stop grinning like a loon. 2) Remove Eccleston's pigeons from Tardis loft. 3) Release whippet into t'wild... " Also, the Scottish Sunday Mail refers to David Tennant in the TARDIS at the end of the story.

Because we took the day off yesterday and didn't report on all the spoiler-laden previews of the final episode, here are some links for your reading pleasure: The Mirror, The Sun, The Western Mail, Dark Horizons, BBC Radio 1 News, The Belfast Telegraph.

Monday's Herald: "Another close one for the human race, then. Who would have guessed the ex-wife of Chris Evans would end up with the time vortex running through her head, thus acquiring special-effects eyes, the power of life and death and an ability to save the day 200,000 years from now? Didn't see that one coming. ... Each episode of the new and immaculately-conceived Doctor Who has had a satirical edge to it, a theme with a moral that, as with most half-decent science-fiction, has an application in the here and now. For Saturday's episode, the lesson involved a mechanical, in this case literally so, devotion to religion. ... It was all done with great style, not a little wit and some authentic pathos. In a single series, Christopher Eccleston has established himself as one of the best, if not the best, 900-year-old Time Lords in the business. David Tennent's sparky cameo as the post-regeneration heir to the title û 'So where was I?' û was promising, but the bar has been set high."

The Guardian called the episode their Pick of the Day and said, "In 1989, Doctor Who came to a close with Sylvester McCoy stumbling towards some bushes muttering about tea getting cold. In contrast, the triumphant new series' finale is nothing short of a Dalek-flavoured Gotterdammerung with the ultimate fate of humanity up for grabs. One gets the feeling that the final shot won't be a freeze-frame of the show's five regulars hi-fiving as the Tardis vworps off. Russell T Davies - thank you. Bye Chris. David Tennant - please don't screw it up."

Merchandise

At right is the cover illustration for the thirdDoctor Who first series DVD release, Volume Three, which was revealed this week on the Amazon.co.uk website. Volume Three includes four episodes -- "The Long Game," "Father's Day," "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" -- and is now due for release on August 1 instead of late July as originally announced. We should have a much better quality version of this cover early this week.

In Austraila, the release dates of the next three editions of the new series DVDs were given in a flyer in the first release: Volume 2 is out on August 4, Volume 3 in September and Volume 4 in October. Also, the flyer in Volume 1 is part of a competition to get a "free Talking Dalek Bottle Opener" if you purchase all 4 volumes.

The Doctor Who Companion û Series One from Panini Press, a Doctor Who Magazine special, is due out on July 7. The special will feature photographs and information on the first season of the show; more details about that soon.

Series Two and Three

Russell T Davies is quoted at CBBC Newsround about the 'scoop' for season two. "A Christmas special this year, another series of 13 episodes in 2006, followed by another Christmas special and then 13 more episodes in 2007, which is very exciting," Davies says. About villains: "Some great new stuff. Some famous old monsters called Cybermen will be coming back and they are as equally scary as the Daleks. They will marching onto your screens into 2006. Lots of new villains too and one or two favourite characters from this year as well. But at the same time the Christmas special has a brand new monster to fight, and that's gonna be good!" About new planets: "I'm the one who has stopped us going off earth because I think you see an awful lot of shows, expensive good ones like Enterprise and Angel, where they go to another planet or dimension and it looks rubbish, it looks like California in the sunshine with a funny rock. I think that when stuff like Revenge of the Sith is doing the most beautiful planets, no matter what you think of the film, the planets are utterly beautiful and that's on a cinema budget which is a trillion times more than a television show would have. I think it's the hardest thing to do and I'm very wary of looking like rubbish because I think the moment the programme looks rubbish people point at it and laugh in a bad way. I'm very happy if people have fun with it and have a good laugh with it. When you have a bad laugh you've lost the faith and you've lost the audience." About a story arc for the second season, like the "Bad Wolf" stuff: "Yes there is, and that word has already been heard on screen. And that's all I'm saying. You'll have to go back and trawl through 13 episodes to realise what I'm on about. You'll hear the word in the Christmas special though" About the Christmas Special: "It's going to be 60 minutes long. It's the first story of the new Doctor played by David Tennant. I remember when I was young it's very strange when a new Doctor comes along, and that's exactly how Rose feels. Her mum gets involved again, but beyond that I can't give anything else away. It's as Christmassy as can be. It's got reindeer, it's got sleigh bells, it's got the works." About Tennant and his native Scottish accent: "Well, every planet has a Scotland. You'll have to wait and see, there are big revelations on the way and I can't say any more than that." About reaction to the show: "The thing we're most happy about is that we've got a new young audience watching. Research before we started said children won't watch because their mums and dads liked it. That was terrifying because we wanted a young audience and I especially wanted girls watching because science-fiction is very often seen as a boy's thing, which is why we have so many strong female characters. And a lot of strong emotion in it, because I think that gets girls watching. I'm delighted that young audience has latched on to it."

Rumors abound, mostly in a report in Saturday's The Sun, that the BBC has approached Elisabeth Sladen to reprise the role of Sarah Jane Smith along with her robot dog K-9 in next year's Doctor Who season. The Sun quotes Russell T Davies as saying "Talks are under way with Elisabeth Sladen to revive the iconic character Sarah Jane Smith, who is remembered by a whole generation of Doctor Who fans." However, there's no additional confirmation about this quote or the report itself.

According to Broadcast Now, "Doctor Who could face yet another regeneration for the show's third series, after the BBC revealed it has still not signed a deal with its new Time Lord actor David Tennant. Tennant and co-star Billie Piper have both been confirmed for the second series, but the BBC admitted that no contract has been signed with either actor for the third series, announced this week. 'We're still in discussions with David Tennant and Billie Piper. The third series has only just been announced, so it's still early days,' said a spokeswoman. Eccleston sparked a storm of criticism when he revealed he would not reprise the role for the second series. When the news was leaked, the BBC was forced to apologise to the actor after issuing a statement in his name, claiming he had left the series for fear of being typecast. A first series ending had to be filmed in which Eccleston's face morphs into that of Casanova star Tennant. He and Piper will star in the 13-episode second series and a Christmas special, which are being filmed in Cardiff this summer for broadcast next year."

Executive producer Julie Gardner is interviewed in a video on the official Doctor Who website, accessible here. "Will the Daleks be back? What are children up to in playgrounds? What is Bad Wolf? Does the series end on a bang?"

Other series three confirmation reports were featured at Scifi.com, The Register, Brand Republic, SyFyPortal.

People

Christopher Eccleston stars in Peter Nichols' play "A Day in the of Death of Joe Egg" on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 3 July, according to programmeinformation from the BBC Press Office.

According to Broadway World, John Barrowman will join Rob Lowe as one of A Few Good Men, which opens in its London premiere on September 6th at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket after starting previews on August 18th. Lowe will play Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a lawyer who must defend a soldier accused of killing one of this fellow soldiers, while Barrowman will portray Captain Jack Ross, the role made famous by Kevin Bacon in the hit 1992 film that also starred Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. Suranne Jones has also been cast in the Aaron Sorkin play, which will be directed by David Esbjornson (The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, The Goat).

Press Coverage

Monday's The Independent calls "Doctor Who's greatest triumph the return of TV for all the family. So Doctor Who is over for this year - which is a shame, because the return of the eccentric time traveller has been a triumph for BBC Television and given many of us a much-needed 'appointment to view' programme to watch on a Saturday night. For those, like me, who believe in popular, quality drama on British television, it was a delight to watch the Doctor take a sonic screwdriver to Celebrity Wrestling on ITV. The debate on whether or not to revive Doctor Who had been going on at the BBC for some years before the recently departed controller of BBC1, Lorraine Heggessey, decided it was time for the Doctor's return. She should be applauded, not just for taking the decision, but for giving the series such a large budget - BBC1 spent ú1m on each 45-minute episode, although the total cost was ú1.2m (the rest came from overseas sales). By current television drama standards, that is an enormous figure and Lorraine's decision was not without risk, as the Doctor Who addicts are, as well as being a bit anoraky, a demanding bunch. But even they should be satisfied with a well-scripted, well-acted series which had high production values and condemned to yesteryear the old practice of pushing Daleks around the studio . ... The reason Doctor Who was a triumph is that, for the first time for some years, we had a new (at least, it felt new) early-evening drama that could be watched by the whole family, something that many in television thought was close to impossible to achieve in the multi-channel age. Just listening to Jonathan Ross raving about the series on his Saturday morning show on Radio Two tells you why it was so special; it gave him the opportunity to sit with his children and watch a programme that they all enjoyed, but on a range of different levels. ... It could be that Doctor Who is unique, that its long history - which guaranteed an audience - combined with a big budget and an outstanding production team gave it advantages that the average new show is never going to get. Or it could be that commissioners just need to be willing to take more risks, and back them up with big money."

Also in the Independent, Matthew Norman's Media Diary says "Finally, on the conclusion of Doctor Who's comeback series, my twopenn'orth of sycophantic adulation for Russell T Davies for a miraculous revival, and some of the best scripts TV drama has known for years. The loss of Christopher Eccleston is a blow, of course (especially to those who have had the fabled pleasure of working with him), but we look forward to David Tennant in the next series. Incidentally, plans to hire Simon Heffer as The Hefferlump - a part-organic, part-robotic madman hell-bent on bringing Enoch Powell back to life - have been shelved due to concerns about the show's pre-watershed start time. But Simon will definitely be signed up to play one of the Slitheen, should that portly family of intergalactic mercenaries make a comeback in series two."

The Telegraph says that the "Time is right for Dr Who to conquer films. The television phenomenon of 2005 is heading for the big screen for the first time in 40 years. The BBC confirmed that it is considering a film adaptation after the triumphant climax of the Doctor Who series last night..."

The Daily Star says that "TV bosses are bracing themselves for a backlash from moral crusaders tomorrow night when they screen a kiss between Dr Who and bisexual time-traveller Captain Jack Harkness. In the last episode of the series, the Timelord and Rose face the wrath of the Daleks - and Captain Jack, actor John Barrowman, 38, is sure they won't survive. As he gets set to mount an attack on the aliens, he plants a smacker on the Doctor's lips and says: 'See you in hell!' Despite the cheeky nature of the kiss, telly watchdogs are already up in arms about it. David Turtle of MediaWatch said: 'This is totally inappropriate, considering Doctor Who goes out in the early evening and is meant to be for family viewing.'" The Western Mail also discusses that, and has a few quotes from Davies. "At the outset, we were told by many people within the business that we were making an impossible programme," he says. "Demographic experts told us that a show designed for family viewing was unrealistic in the current TV climate. They said, 'Don't aim for that.' But we forged ahead, and we proved them wrong. ... One of the hardest things about the second series will be sticking to the same road we've created. In many ways, after you've proved successful with one series, the second series is the biggest, most dangerous challenge, so none of us are resting on our laurels. We want to stay faithful to the roots of the programme, while also pushing it further." He refers to the story about how he approached "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling to write an episode of the first series: "But she turned us down, and I'm not crawling back to ask a second time!" He says that having worked with Tennant will be a big advantage. "It means I know David's rhythms of speech, his mannerisms. But, as the Doctor, he won't be hugely different to Christopher Eccleston. He'll have a different style of dialogue, and his own quirks - just like you had Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison - but he's still the Doctor. He'll be wearing different clothes, but rumours that David will be wearing a kilt are completely untrue."

Prime TV in New Zealand screened a short trailer for the new series at approx. 1pm on Sunday the 19th June. The trailer lasted less than thirty seconds and was made up of a montage of clips from the new series, ending with the new series logo and a caption underneath reading Coming Soon.

The Daily Star said that Saturday was "one of the saddest moments for anyone watching telly. Not because they're watching Beverly Hills Cop on ITV and lamenting how rubbish Eddie Murphy is now. No. They'll be watching the end of Dr Who on BBC1. There will be howls of anguish, screams of agony and buckets of tears. It will be like the nation has been turned into a McFly gig audience. In fact there will be only one house in Britain where there WON'T be blubbing. Mine. I'm sooooo glad it's ending. I can't take any more. It's simply too good. It's spoiling the rest of my telly viewing by making it rubbish in comparison. And professionally, I am running out of phrases to describe its magnificence. ... Anyway, I'm glad it's ending as my head and heart will explode if it gets any better. If Russell T Davies has any sense he'll cancel plans to do a second series, quit while he's ahead - and start work on bringing back Blake's 7."

The Washington Blade says that "Captain Jack Harkness is the most singularly unique character I have ever witnessed on television. He likes women. He likes men. He likes ù robots. He flies around in an invisible spaceship and swoops out of the sky just in time to stop a bomb, all brawn and machismo, and in the next scene makes a catty little quip and forms an exaggerated 'W' with his fingers. Did I mention that he hides a rather large laser gun in his $#@? Gay actor John Barrowman plays the openly omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness in the new 'Doctor Who' series. We should expect little less from Russell T. Davies ... He's a 51st century guy. He's just a little more flexible about who he dances with."

The Times Online asks "Why is Doctor Who such a success?": "Before Doctor Who of went on air, research suggested that no one would want to watch it and that the BBC was heading for a ú10 million disaster. The sci-fi series has confounded predictions by attracting seven million viewers. Why have so many people switched on to the Doctor?" The site has reader responses from a variety of locations.

Russell T Davies has a brief letter in this week's print edition of Broadcast magazine. Last week, Emily Bell wrote at length on the artistic and broadcasting success of the series (see OG news, 12 June), saying that her seven-year-old had woken her up in the middle of the night, worried about gas masked zombies... "There were five minutes last week when I was angry with Russell T Davies." Davies has replied: "It's not often I get the chance to wake up a woman at 4am, so my apologies to Emily Bell. And thanks for the kind words about Doctor Who. But much as I'd like to claim the credit, the scary gas-mask children were created and written by Steven Moffat. And very brilliant they were too."

The Independent refers to a particular exchange between the Doctor and Rose in the last episode (concerning a kiss...) and examines its relevance. "After 40 years of time-travelling, Dr Who is finally to enjoy his first kiss. But what makes the meeting of the 'mucous membranes of the lips of two people' so special? Kissing is a very strange activity, so strange that in more than 40 Earth years and countless aeons in his own eccentric time zone, not one of the various Doctors Who has ever been tempted to make contact between the mucous membranes of his lips and those of his gorgeous, pouting female assistants. Until tonight, that is, when, in the last of the Christopher Eccleston/Billy Piper Doctor Who series, the doctor kisses his horny sidekick-ette, Rose Tyler. The BBC spin machine was already in full dampener mode yesterday, when it claimed that the Who/Tyler clinch was, in fact, artificial respiration administered by the Doctor. 'Their lips do touch and there is a kiss, but it is designed to rescue Rose from death,' said the series spokesman....."

In Canada, the Globe and Mail talks about the show going into reruns immediately. "Surrounded by a tremendous amount of hype when it premiered in April, the latest incarnation of the popular long-running sci-fi franchise is back for a repeat airing. 'We are very happy with the numbers we got the first time when we telecast it as a hockey replacement,' says CBC's executive director of network programming, Slawko Klymkiw. 'They show how popular Doctor Who is and we wanted to give audiences another chance to see this fabulous, innovative series.' Christopher Eccleston makes for a sexy, tongue-in-cheek version of the Time Lord and it's a pity he won't be back on board TARDIS for a second go. An announcement of his departure, made just after the series launched, left the actor vilified, but Eccleston had only signed on for one season to avoid being typecast. If you missed the show this spring, this is your chance to catch the daring new Doctor before he's reincarnated as a tamer time traveler."

Some radio show "listen again" featurettes courtesy the DWAS: the Today Programme, BBC Radio 4 6:00am-9:00am, has a discussion about how television impacts the public and whether it is educational/stimulating enough or simply turning us into couch potatoes with a reference to 'Father's Day' here (about 02:45:00 in); the Nicola Heyward Thomas show on BBC Radio Wales, 12:00-2:00pm, has a discussion on Doctor Who and how good its been, with Express critic Charlie Catchpole, local shop owner Christian Barrie, and DWAS Press Officer Antony Wainer here (about 00:34:30 in) and a phone interview with John Barrowman (about 01:47:00 in); and Good Morning Wales, BBC Radio Wales, 6:00-9:00am, has two stories, with Doctor Who topping the Cult TV polls (about 00:03:00 in) and an interview with Davies (about 02:41:00 in).

In addition to our previous note about the show on TV Times, the season finale also featured in the "Total TV Guide", with a short interview with Davies - the cover shows Eccleston and loads of Daleks, and a colour photo (of loads more Daleks) inside with the interview. In it, RTD is quoted as saying "people are more inclined to run away from weird things like purple beaches" so evidently it was recorded before he changed his mind about alien planets!

Other News Items

According to the Doctor Who Exhibitions website, the new series exhibition on Brighton Pier is now displaying new exhibits from episodes 7 to 13 as of this weekend.

Doctor Who was named "top cult series" in a poll conducted by the Cult TV website (the people who run the annual Cult TV convention in the UK) according to a report at BBC news. "Doctor Who has beaten Star Trek to the title of most popular cult TV show, in a website's poll of viewers. The BBC show knocked Star Trek from the number one spot in the vote conducted by the website Cult TV, ending Star Trek's nine-year reign at number one." Also reported at Sky News.

Other press items: the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia gives a favorable review to "World War Three"; the Sci-Fi Online site has a handy guide to the series' cliffhangers if every 45 minute episode were broken down into two parts; and the Carlisle News and Star has an inteview with Peter Tyler, the model unit director of photography on the show;

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Adam Kirk, Steve Berry, Frank Shailes, John Hatfield, Peter Weaver, Duncan Rose, David French, Martin Hearn and Andy Parish)

The final ratings for Boom Town, ten days ago, have been reported by BARB: 7.68 million viewers watched the episode, including timeshifted viewers. "Doctor Who" was 18th overall during the week, and seventh overall when counting all broadcast episodes of a series as one show.

More ratings news: according to the overnights from ViewingFigures, 645,740 viewers tuned into the Sunday night repeat of "Bad Wolf" on BBC3 (for a 4.6% audience share), with 343,440 viewers (2.4% share) tuning in for the repeat of "Doctor Who Confidential" after. "Bad Wolf" was at number 1 in its timeslot by over 150,000 viewers, "Confidential" at fourth place.

DonÆt read this weekÆs Radio Times if youÆre sensitive to spoilers, as the magazine concludes its fifteen weeks of extensive coverage and promotion for the series. ôThe Daleks return û and how!ö announces the cover, with ôRT recommendsà the weekÆs best of televisionö (page 4) praising a ôFantastic ending to a fantastic seriesö. The double-sided Dalek poster offered to readers seven weeks ago is back (page 10), this time in the form of ten copies signed by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper to be given as prizes to any UK readers who can use a telephone and know who is to play the Tenth Doctor. This weekÆs double-paged ôDoctor Who Watchö (page 14) is dominated by a large picture of some Daleks, with a couple of insets featuring Billie Piper and Barnaby Edwards, while the text itself centres on Russell T DaviesÆ enthusiastic thoughts on the finale (ôYou will die! ItÆs magic!ö), as well as featuring the customary plug for the products available from BBC Books and BBC DVD. Sci-fi Collector has a full-page advert on page 43. ôTodayÆs Choicesö for Saturday (page 72) are dominated by Live Aid reminiscences, to mark the 19 years and 48 weeksÆ anniversary of the event. But the page does find room to preview both ôThe Parting of the Waysö (ôan immensely successful seriesà no preview tapesö) and Doctor Who Confidential (ôDaviesÆ clear vision has been the single most important factor in the success of the revivalö). There is also a very brief interview, complete with photograph, with Nick Briggs on Dalek-voicing (ôYou have to be a bit manicàö), as well as a tiny plug for the new exhibition in Brighton. BBC OneÆs listings for Saturday evening (page 74) are headed by a small shot of Daleks surrounding the TARDIS: ôJust what the Doctor didnÆt order: our favourite Time Lord could be about to meet his fate at the hands of his greatest enemiesö. Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide at 6.15pm is advertised as ôa look back at the Doctor and RoseÆs whirlwind adventures in both time and space, including their encounters with alien enemies both old and new. Featuring behind-the-scenes access, and interviews with cast and crew.ö For the episode itself, ôAs the Earth is plunged into a bloody war, the Doctor is forced to take drastic action. Will Rose lose her friend forever?ö The cast listing contains a major spoiler for the episode (about its end, rather, which we won't spoil for you here!), and yet another plug for the ninth Doctor novels and DVDs. On BBC Three, the blurb for Doctor Who Confidential reads ôElectrocuted by the Slitheen, eaten by Reapers and tortured by Van Statten. For the ninth Doctor, the job certainly hasnÆt got any easier. As the series draws to a conclusion, relive the highs and lows of Christopher EcclestonÆs tenure.ö The BBC3 repeat showings for ôThe Parting of the Waysö and Confidential are confirmed for 10.50pm and 11.35pm on Saturday and in the regular 7û8pm slot on Sunday. ItÆs the endà

Russell T Davies has told the official Doctor Who website that the Bad Wolf secret is still out there. "Have you solved the mystery of Bad Wolf, the cryptic hidden message spread across this season of Doctor Who? Well, no. You haven't. At least, not according to Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who has been keeping an eager eye on the various theories about who or what the Bad Wolf could be: 'Judging from the reactions I've had, a lot of people seem to think the Bad Wolf has already been revealed. Oh, it's the TV station. Oh, it's half a million Daleks. I've even got one friend claiming it's the Face of Boe! I must get better friends. I don't want to give anything away yet, but there is another revelation to come in Saturday's episode. We haven't discovered the true Bad Wolf yet.'"

This week's Heat magazine previews the final episode: "We've been warned about something horrible and mightily dangerous throughout this series. Something called Bad Wolf. And now, as we reach the end of this remarkable run, we know who it is. Or rather who they are.... A suitably stunning climax, and probably the most awesomely epic Doctor Who ever. Baftas must rain down." Heat gives the episode five stars. Also, this week's Star magazine awards Saturday's episode with 5 stars (out of 5): "All too soon, it's the end of the series, and Rose Tyler's friendship with the Doctor is tested when Earth plunges into all-out war. With the human race being mercilessly slaughtered, Doctor Who is forced to take immediate and terrifying action. Yikes on a bike." And Closer magazine has Saturday's Doctor Who as it's Pick of the Day: "As the Doctor heads for a final showdown with his arch-enemies, he's forced to take drastic measures that put Rose's life in danger. As we all know, Christopher Eccleston is hanging up his TARDIS key (to be replaced by Casanova's David Tennant), so prepare for a real cliffhanger ending".

Christopher Eccleston is featured on the cover of Alumni Magazine at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, where he did a Foundation Degree in Drama and Theatre in 1983 and from where he received an Honorary MA in 2001. The university has been celebrating the prowess of its famous former student; the article includes information on his career, with quotes from Russell T Davies on the character of The Doctor (presumably for the benefit of former students from overseas who have never seen the show).

More on the CBBC special mentioned in Monday's report. The show will "air" from Friday and run until Sunday; to access it, simply press the red button on any BBC channel and then type in the number 570, or alternatively go to Sky Channel 616 and press red for CBBCExtra. There will be some exclusive Doctor Who footage, including a new Phil Collinson interview.

The Western Mail today notes "What Doctor Who has done for us" in an article which asks "It's won the battle of Saturday night TV - as well as fighting off aliens and daleks - but what has the new Doctor Who series really done for Welsh TV?" The article goes into the notion that the series "has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the creative industries in Wales as a whole. This is the biggest network project ever to come out of BBC Wales, and its staggering success has done a huge amount to highlight to the rest of the world the maturity and creative strength of the media industry here in Wales. Before Doctor Who was commissioned, the University of Glamorgan published a study showing that over 85% of BBC Wales' annual spend stayed in Wales, sustaining hundreds of Welsh jobs in businesses outside the BBC and giving a measurable boost to the Welsh economy. We shouldn't underestimate the additional benefits Doctor Who is bringing to those businesses - from costumiers and set builders to prop suppliers and stage electricians. For a number of businesses, it was their first brush with a major television production - a Cwmbran upholsterer more used to crafting designer sofas was asked to build a seat for the Doctor's Tardis; the Defence Aviation Repair Agency at St Athan found one of their hangars accommodating Billie Piper suspended from a crane rather than housing high-powered jet aircraft. The benefits were spread far and wide, with filming taking in locations from Swansea, Miskin and Penarth to Newport, Barry and Monmouth. ... Now, when the world of television takes a look at the pool of talent here in Wales, they will find that - like the Tardis - it is much, much bigger than it looks from the outside." Read the full article at the Western Mail site.

That missing Dalek has been found, according to BBC News and other sources. "A Dalek stolen from a Somerset tourist site has been found on Glastonbury Tor after thieves said it was 'too hot'. The prop, which was at Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, for a Doctor Who exhibition, was taken more than a week ago. A 'ransom note' was then issued. Cave owner Gerry Cottle made appeals for information. In the early hours of Tuesday, staff recieved a phone call telling them where the Dalek was. Mr Cottle has denied that the theft of the Dalek was a publicity stunt."

Several news sources are reporting the comments made by Russell T Davies several days ago to the UK Press Association, which we reported at the time, including the reports that Santa Claus will be seen in the Christmas special this year ("We've got a Christmas special.just wait until you see what we do with Santa!" Davies had told the Press Association), that the Daleks wouldn't return next season, and that the Cybermen would be making a return next year. The Sun and the FemaleFirst website are among these reporters.

The Daily Express reports that Georgia Moffett (Peter Davison's daughter) is interested in being a companion. "The petite 20-year-old, whose mother is Davison's ex-wife, actress Sandra Dickinson, auditioned to be Christopher Eccleston's assistant the first time round. After failing, she insisted she was relieved as her family connections might have made the situation 'a bit twee'. However, she has now changed her mind and says: 'They told me I was too young for it but if they want me now, I'd love to do it!'"

Anneke Wills is interviewed in today's Mirror. The former Doctor Who companion said that when she first saw Billie Piper in Doctor Who, "it was like seeing her younger self through a time warp." "I would say to Billie: 'Life is never as straightforward as you think it's going to be.'" The article profiles her, including what she is doing nowadays and her career and life; read the full article at the Mirror site today.

Today's Guardian speculates the meaning of "Bad Wolf" and what it represents for the series.

The BBC's listing for the documentary Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, airing before the final episode on Saturday 18 June at 6:15pm, reads: "After being off our screens for many years, the ninth Doctor has been making up for lost time. And with the Doctor on the brink of war, now is the perfect time to look back at the highs and lows of his journey with Rose that have all built up to the ultimate stand-off with the ultimate enemy - the Daleks. From a council estate to a battle in space, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide takes us behind the scenes of the new series, to talk to cast and crew and celebrate all the triumphs and tears, smiles and trials shared between the Doctor, Rose and the millions of fans who have turned on to see a new Who at his alien best. The Ultimate Guide is just what the Doctor ordered." The listing for the final Doctor Who Confidential airing after the episode reads, "The Last Battle: After 900 years of time travel, globe trotting just does not get any easier. Electrocuted by the Slitheen, eaten by Reapers and tortured by Van Statten - the ninth Doctor has seen it all. But as the new series reaches its dramatic conclusion, will the doctor survive the final battle of the great time war? As a fitting tribute, Doctor Who Confidential relives the highs and lows of his time with Rose, and sees Christopher Eccleston takes his final bow."

Other news: an article in today's The Independent discusses the BBC's sales of its products overseas; the BBC Press Office has a report on the musical drama "Blackpool" starring David Tennant from last year has won the Best of Festival, Global Television Grand Prize and Best Mini-Series at the prestigious Banff 2005 Rockie Awards in Canada;

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Andy Parish, Peter Weaver, Faiz Rehman, Paul Hayes, Gill Spaul, Steve Manfred, Paul Blewett, Adrian Hill and Kate Butterworth)

Bad Wolf scored 6,229,490 viewers and a 35.91% audience share in overnight ratings, according to ViewingFigures. While the figures are lower than in previous weeks, all viewings for the evening were down (as it's coming up on summer), and "Doctor Who" still beat ITV to rank highest for its time slot.Doctor Who Confidential episode 12 had 621,000 viewers (5% share), the highest rating of the non-terrestrial channels last evening. The late-night repeat of "Bad Wolf" had 247,200 viewers (2.5% share) and the "Confidential" repeat scored 153,400 viewers (2.1% share).

New Zealand fans, take note: PrimeTV will start to screen the new Doctor Who series in July. This according to a report in the Sunday Star Times.

Reactions to "Bad Wolf": The Daily Star praised the "increasingly edible Chris Eccleston" and the idea of introducing death for losing reality TV contestants and felt that it could liven up current schedules. Marshall concluded with: "As I'm in mourning over the end of Doctor Who next week, I'm taking a week off to cry over my Chris Eccleston posters..."Digital Spy calls it "an ace episode, IÆm even warming to Captain Jack, though IÆm unsure quite how well his innuendo charged exchanges with the Doctor are playing with nationÆs seven year olds." The episode made the Critics' Choice in last evening's Financial Times: "When they were last seen, the Doctor, Rose and captain Jack were trapped in a monstrous TV satellite but heading off in different directions. It turns out that they are all to become the victims of sadistic future game shows that bear eerie similarities to contemporary shows, complete with replicant versions of Anne Robinson, Davina McCall, and Trinny and Susannah. Some will applaud this foursome for lending their voices to attacks on what they and their shows represent. Others will not." Charlie Brooker in the Guardian says, "The episode (which finally explains all the 'Bad Wolf' references that have cropped up throughout the series) also finds room for futuristic versions of both The Weakest Link and What Not To Wear. It's not quite clear whether the inherent nastiness of these shows is being satirised or faintly celebrated: perhaps staging crueller facsimiles which didn't use the actual voices of Davina, Anne Robinson et al (who crop up in robotised form) would've been a better way to go. Or perhaps I'm being stuffy. Perhaps it's been included to annoy a specific, rare strain of Who fan: the dusty, real-ale fanatic who thinks this entire series has been a grotesque Hollyoaks respray of the original (which it could so nearly have been), rather than a thrilling and enchanting update occasionally let down by fart jokes (which is what it actually is). Best. BBC. Family. Drama. Series. Ever."

Canada's Planet of the Doctor web documentary continues... episode 4 is now up. You can view it at the CBCwebsite.

According to today's Sunday Mail, new Doctor Who David Tennant has been given an "intergalatic seal of approval" by Tom Baker. "Paisley-born Tennant, 33, has said Baker's performance in the BBC series inspired him to become an actor. Tom, 72, said: 'It makes me feel very happy and proud. I have caught a glimpse of Tennant and he has a kind of mercurial quality. I suppose it's star quality. You can believe he has secrets. I'm looking forward to David being hugely successful.'"

Christopher Eccleston was a phone guest on BBC Radio 5 Live's Eamonn Holmes show on Saturday morning, mainly discussing Malcolm Glazer 's takeover of Manchester United football club, Eccleston having previously tried to prevent this by donating ú10,000. He also took part in a spoof 'pub quiz' where all the answers were 'glazer'. Holmes ended by asking Eccleston if he had enjoyed working on Doctor Who, to which Eccleston intriguingly responded, "Mixed, but that's a long story" and left it at that. The suggestion seemed to be that elements of the experience may have left a sour taste with him.

The Broadcast magazine in the Guardian this week says Doctor Who "has created a must-view Saturday-night slot, but Doctor Who has also stayed true to its creative roots. ... At a time when creative leadership in television is as fragile and elusive as Jonny Wilkinson's fitness, Davies and his editors at the BBC have demonstrated that a passion for the medium, intelligently and uncynically deployed, can deliver what the contrived and compromised cannot - a big Saturday early evening audience of family viewers. Until now 'appointment to view' has been an alien concept for the under-10s - the assumption being that unless a show is stripped and stranded on a daily basis no juvenile can hold in their heads a once-a-week day and time. Doctor Who has proved that the complex weaving of social commentary, acute satire and daft monsters does not have to be the exclusive preserve of The Simpsons. And it has given children a glimpse of that nostalgic concept of shared experience, the type normally enjoyed only via the proxy of a Channel 4 list show - think Stuart Maconie sitting on a Spacehopper eating Spangles in front of Magpie. ... It is a shame Christopher Eccleston signed up for only one series as it is unlikely he will encounter this quality of material to interpret many times in his career - and his audience will certainly never be more gripped and grateful, if a little scared."

Broadcast Now on Thursday carried a large article in praise of the new series, describing it as "a must-view Saturday-night slot" that's had "the momentous achievement of leading broadcast television back onto the path of righteousness [...] the remarkable resurrection of the Time Lord has given us some of the best domestic television of the past decade." The article goes on to applaud "a passion for the medium, intelligently and uncynically deployed, [that] can deliver what the contrived and compromised cannot û a big Saturday early evening audience of family viewers. Until now "appointment to view" has been an alien concept for the under-10s - the assumption being that unless a show is stripped and stranded on a daily basis no juvenile can hold in their heads a once-a-week day and time." The full article can be seen at

In today's Guardian, a positive spin on the new show: "Riding over the hill to the rescue comes Russell T Davies, who, as everyone else in the country now agrees, has delivered a series of Doctor Who better than anyone had imagined was possible. My eyes prick with tears of gratitude as I contemplate his achievement. For not only has he got the whole family round the telly together on a Saturday evening (even Unslack Mum is hooked) - but he also has revitalised the concept of fatherhood. For, by happy chance, while I may not possess the northern accent or the unsettling grin of Christopher Eccleston, I do have the short hair, big ears and nose, leather jacket, and general know-it-all demeanour, sometimes backed up by actual knowledge."

Says Garry Bushell in today's The People: "Big Brother perked up last night. They brought in a new housemate, a bolshie Northerner who didn't want to be there. He was bright, shrewd, rebellious. A proper handful. Sadly this wasn't on the C4 show, but a version set hundreds of years in the future where evicted housemates were apparently disintegrated. If only... The Northerner was Dr Who, and this was TV designed to turn human minds to mush. A nice idea, but it didn't reflect the way telly is going. It was far too tame. The real Big Brother becomes dumber, coarser and nastier by the year. In just two weeks, we've seen bullying, endless rowing and sexual shenanigans. At this rate, future housemates will be stripped naked before entering the house, smeared in chocolate and hurled into a perpetual orgy where the groping and poking would stop only for the odd spot of random bloodletting."

Clippings Update: The new TV and Satellite Week (11-17 June) featured a "Doctor Who" cover with Christopher Eccleston in front of the "Big Brother" logo. The title ran: "Doctor Who Meets Big Brother. It's The Craziest Episode Yet!". Inside was a 2-page preview ("Doctor Who's Big Bother") which included an item on the theme of Bad Wolf in the series. The episode was also Pick Of The Day. The "Next Week" promotion ran over a picture of a Dalek with the title "Time's Up For Doctor Who". The current issue of Starburst features a "Doctor Who" cover and "Massive Who Coverage". Inside are interviews with Bruno Langley, Paul Cornell, John Barrowman and an article on The Mill. The current "Cult Times Special" focusses on "Doctor Who". Inside are episode guides and an item called "Doctor Who For Beginners". There are also interviews with Rob Shearman, Gary Russell, Paul Cornell, Steven Moffatt, India Fisher and Conrad Westmaas. TheDaily Mirror TV Magazine "We Love Telly" (11th June) had "Doctor Who" on the cover. Over a picture of a Dalek and a "Silver Nemesis" Cyberman with Anne Robinson's head stuck on it a caption ran: "Double Trouble: the Doc faces Daleks and a robot Robinson!". Inside was half-page preview entitled "Reality Bites!". The episode was also Pick Of The Day. The Daily Star (11th June) included an item entitled "Billie's No Sci-flier" and stated that although Billie Piper would be in the next series she wouldn't be in every episode. In the accompanying TV magazine "Doctor Who" was TV Pick. The latest isssue of FAB, the magazine of the Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society, compares the relaunch of "Doctor Who" to BBC1 with the return of "Captain Scarlet" to ITV and believes that ITV has a lot to learn from the "Doctor Who" campaign which resulted in "...a massive success, creaming the opposition and sending the ITV schedulers scurrying to Lucasfilm to find something that might do better for them than yet another bloody talent contest or interactive D-list celebrity peepshow". The Newsround website has posted the ten winners of "Doctor Who" Volume One DVDs. TheDaily Star Sunday(12th June) featured a number of "Doctor Who" references, primarily a half-page article titled "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" which included a large photograph from the final episode along with pictures of the spray-painted TARDIS and a selection of characters from previous episodes. "Sharon Marshall On TV" made repeated reference to "Doctor Who", including comments on the concluding episode: "SWITCH ON: There's not just one Dalek back - there's millions. And it's brilliant. But it's also the last of the series. Sniff". Also, a "TV TURN-OFF" was "The news that Trinny and Susannah will still be with us in 200100".

ITV Teletext (11th June) had "Doctor Who" as its TV Pick: "Penultimate episode of what has been a memorable return for the Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper find themselves trapped in a Big Brother-style reality TV nightmare. They face fearsome new foes in the shape of Anne Robinson as cruel quiz show host Anne Droid and Davina McCall, Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine pop up as their futuristic namesakes. Clever stuff...". Also, BBC Ceefax had "Bad Wolf" as its TV Choice (11th June) with a somewhat mixed preview: "No tapes were available of this one, so we're all flying blind. Yet it promises to be umissable - even as it doesn't necessarily promise to be good. It's definately bold, and you have to acknowledge that - this penultimate episode sees the Doctor trapped in the Big Brother house. Could go either way, couldn't it? The android Anne Robinson looks dodgy, yet the Bad Wolf storyline could be good. Fingers crossed. Weird to think that we'll only see Eccleston one more time".

The edition of the popular BBC Radio Panel Game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, broadcast on 6 June, featured a reference to Doctor Who, during a round in which the panellists had to act out a proverb. Given the proverb An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away, panellists Tim Brooke Taylor and Jeremy Hardy pretended that they were Daleks and planned on using Apple Computers to keep the Doctor at bay.

There was something of a Dalek presence at the G8 Finance Ministers' meeting in London on 11th June. The World Development Movement charity (website) had 3 fullsize Daleks, two of which were being operated, and 7 inflatables present at the event in central London. Media coverage included BBC 1 teatime and evening news, Sky News, BBC Radio 4, BBC News 24, and CNN!

BBC News further covered the ongoing saga of the kidnapped Dalek from Somerset, which we reported in our last news update. "'Kidnappers' who stole a Dalek from a Somerset tourist attraction have sent its owners a ransom note - and the alien's amputated plunger. The 5ft model, believed to be an original from the cult BBC Dr Who series, was taken from Wookey Hole Caves near Wells on Monday. On Thursday, staff found the plunger arm and a ransom note on a doorstep. The note read: 'We are holding the Dalek captive. We demand further instructions from the Doctor.' The group, signing themselves Guardians of the Planet Earth, added: 'For the safety of the human race we have disarmed and removed its destructive mechanism.'" Also covered at CBBC News, Western Daily Press, The Register (also here), This is Devon, Bristol Evening Press, BoingBoing, P2Pnet.

Other press notes: the Big Brother website recommends Doctor Who (no wonder why!); the Scotsman features recycled comments from Russell T Davies on series two; the Digital Spy mentions David Walliams not writing for series two (from a DWM interview last month); the Sydney Morning Herald reviewed Aliens of London, the episode showing this week, very positively; the Gloucester Citizen comments on a Dalek owner and his obsession;FilmCritic reviews the first DVD release; and the Bath Chronicle reports on women getting to drive a Dalek for charity, also reported atFalkirk Today.

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, Jamie Austin, Dominic May, Jon Preddle, David James, Keith Armstrong, David French, Faiz Rehman, Andrew Norris, John McVie, Paul Blewett, Adam Kirk, Iain Keller)

The official website today reports that the Doctor Who Confidential production team have created a documentary calledDoctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, which will be aired prior to the final episode of this season, "The Parting of the Ways," on Saturday June 18 at 6.15pm. Says the press release: "From a council estate to a battle in space, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, will take us behind the scenes of the new series, to talk to cast and crew and celebrate all the triumphs and tears, smiles and trials shared between the Doctor, Rose and millions of fans, who have turned on to see a new Who at his alien best. The Ultimate Guide is just what the Doctor ordered."

The final ratings are in for The Doctor Dances, broadcast 28 May: 6.86 million viewers tuned in for the episode according to BARB, including time-shifted viewers, for the series to end the week at #18 in all broadcasts (including multiple-day airings) and eighth in series. It's important to remember that it was a bank holiday weekend; even so, "Doctor Who" was the highest-rated program that Saturday. (The overnights for "Boom Town" were higher than these final totals, suggesting the drop was because of the date...)

No Daleks next year? Russell T Davies suggests so in an interview today with the UK Press Association (and reproduced in such papers as the Birmingham Post): "'Oh no, we've done them.. Because of what happens... I'm not sure we can take the Daleks anywhere else after that." The article is mostly a farewell to the series for this year (it ends a week from Saturday) and interviews Davies and the emotional dimension of the series: "Well, that's what I write. That's what you're getting when you employ me, quite frankly. Otherwise you might as well ask someone else." Davies says that the series is "everything I wanted it to be - the music is brilliant, the effects are brilliant. A lot of series don't reach a climax - I thought the last episode of Desperate Housewives was quite relaxed in the knowledge it was coming back - and I think that's a mistake. You want to leave people punching the air and I think we've pulled that off. ... We just have to get on with it. And because we've got a new Doctor coming up it makes us worried all over again. But I think it's very healthy in that we don't rest on our laurels. There hasn't actually been a moment of, 'Hooray, it's a success!' because now it has to be a success again next year. It's still as scary as it ever was." He confirms Tennant will be in the Christmas special (the Doctor is reported to regenerate at the end of "The Parting of the Ways"): "Having changes in the cast so early on is always a worry. But at the same time it's one of the things that keeps us on our toes. Just by casting David we're not becoming complacent because it's his face on screen and we've got to make it every bit as good, if not better, for his sake." And as for alien planets: "We're going to see some alien planets next time round. I've been cautious about that in the first series because we want to get it right. It's one of those science fiction things that can go horribly wrong if it doesn't actually look like an alien planet. But I'm very confident we can do that now. And the Cybermen are going to come back. Hooray! We like them. After the Daleks it was inevitable really. The old elements work very nicely. There's a bit of nostalgia and they appeal to the new viewers as well. But there will be plenty of new stuff as well.

Thursday's Guardian has its priorities in order. "Extraordinary at this stage of one's life to be rushing back from the coast on Saturday evening so as not to miss even the opening credits of Doctor Who," says an article on Saturday television. "Not only because Russell T Davies's reinvention with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper is such an exhilarating (if sometimes baffling) ride, but because, while it lasts, Doctor Who is once again one of the rituals which make Saturday."

(Thanks to Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe, James Lindsay)

The overnight figures for Boom Town show 7.13 million viewers tuned in for the eleventh episode of the series, with a 36.95% audience share; "Doctor Who" was first in its time slot. This is the first time it's been back over seven million viewers in the initial overnights in three weeks (because of the early start time for "The Empty Child" and the bank holiday weekend affecting "The Doctor Dances"). More precise data should be in tomorrow.

The final BARB ratings figure for The Empty Child has been released: 7.11 million viewers watched the episode. The series was eighth in the week's top ten British broadcasts.

Part three of the Canadian network CBC's Planet of the Doctor web documentary is up on their website.

A few Doctor Who related news stories today in the press: the Rainbow Network features a report on the series plus comments about Christopher Eccleston; Playbill discusses John Barrowman's newest endeavour: his UK cabaret debut in July in Knightsbridge; This is London features an update on Billie Piper's housing situation in Hampstead; and theGuardian "Slack Dad" column heaps praise on the new Doctor Who series.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Chuck Foster, Scott Matthewman)

The overnight ratings for The Doctor Dances are in. The episode was watched by an average of 6.17 million viewers with a 35.9% viewing audience share, peaking in the second quarter-hour of the episode with 6.30 million. "Doctor Who" was the most watched programme of Saturday, day or night (versus 3.2 million for the ITV showing of "X-Men" at the same time) and while the overall viewer ratings are the lowest so far, this was during a major bank holiday weekend in Britain.

Meanwhile, a report on this week's airing of Father's Day on CBC in Canada: the episode was viewed by 809,000 viewers, down due to its main competition, the season finale of "American Idol". However, "Doctor Who" continues to hold on to 8pm's number two spot on Canadian networks, while rounding out the top four for all primetime (8pm to 11pm).

An update on the Billie Piper situation. Today's "News of the World," a tabloid, reports that Piper is not leaving the series at all, and will appear in all episodes of the next series despite reports to the contrary. "The People" also reports today that Piper "is to earn ú120,000 after agreeing to star in four extra episodes of Doctor Who. The actress announced that she was quitting the show last week, and originally planned to star in just three episodes of the show's second series. However, Billie, who plays Rose Tyler, will now appear in seven episodes of the next series. 'It's great news she's on board for more,' an insider told The People." The reports on her possible departure vary widely, obviously; time will tell as to whether she stays for the entire season or leaves at some point therein.

Today's Telegraph covers the sale of the series to South Korea. "Pagishikinda! Pagishikinda! This is the blood-curdling cry of the world's first Korean-speaking Dalek. Doctor Who, the popular science fiction drama, has made history by becoming the first BBC drama series to be sold to South Korea." The series will be known in the country as "Dacter Who" and the Korean broadcaster KBS 2 will show two different episodes each week, starting with its debut next weekend, to make it easier for viewers to get to know the character. Says Russell T Davies, "The Doctor has travelled far and wide and knows no boundary and now the programme is doing much the same." Jungwon Lee, executive director of KBS Media, said: "We are very excited to launch Dr Who on the network. We anticipate a great reaction from all age groups."

Also notable about the Telegraph article is that it mentions expanded airings of the show on various airlines. Previously the series had been announced as airing on Thomsonfly Airlines, a local carrier (and only the first episode) but the Telegraph article says that the series "has also been sold to some of the world's biggest airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand who will begin broadcasting it from next month."

Last week's Dead Ringers didn't have a Doctor Who sketch proper, but did have a spoof news item on the DVD getting a PG rating for scenes of cruelty to a Dalek. They claimed the BBC had pointed out that there was a helpline number at the end of the show for Daleks who had been affected by any of the issues in the programme. The show also featured a piece on the resignation of former BBC political editor Andrew Marr (seen as himself in "Aliens of London" and "World War Three"). Marr explained that it was because he had evolved into an uber-correspondent, and would from now on exist as a being of pure energy, reporting news from throughout the universe.

BBC News illustrated a story on the revelation that space-time wormholes can't function as a stable means of achieving time-travel (apparently) with a screengrab from the new series titles, mentioning in the text that the tunnel seen in the credits of Doctor Who looks suspiciously like a wormhole, "although the Doctor's preferred method of travel is not explained in detail".

(Thanks to Steve Berry, Rod Mammitzsch, Paul Hayes, Peter Weaver, Matt Kimpton)

BARB has now released the consolidated viewing figures for The Long Game: 8.01 million viewers, making the episode Saturday's second most watched programme (after Casualty, 8.35m), top in its timeslot, sixth on BBC1 in the week ending 8 May and seventeenth in the terrestrial top 30. In terms of its performance against the preceding six episodes of the series, it's in fourth place, behind "Rose", "The Unquiet Dead" and "Dalek". And today's Broadcast magazine confirms that the audience share for Dalek was 45%.

South Korea is the latest country to pick up the series. South Korean public TV station KBS (equivalent to BBC) is going to broadcast the new Doctor Who series from the 5th of June, every Saturday at 11.15 pm. No further details as yet.

On the official site, there is confirmation that the final appearance in the series of Christopher Eccleston will be in Episode 13, contrary to theories elsewhere that he will be appearing in the Christmas special, and that the remaining editions of Doctor Who Confidential will be cut to fifteen minutes for their Sunday evening repeats. The details of the episode titles for the last few shows in the run of Doctor Who Confidential have also been revised: "The Cult of Who" becomes "The World of Who" and focuses on the show's global appeal and its fans. Episode 13, "Finale", is retitled "The Last Battle". The show relives the highs and lows of the Ninth Doctor's time with Rose, and sees Christopher Eccleston taking his final bow. It's looking increasingly likely that all the remaining Sunday night repeats will be trimmed to fit a 15-minute slot, so be sure to catch Confidential on Saturdays if you want to see the uncut versions."

The BBC Press Office has released its weekly programme information documents (note: all documents are pdfs) for the week beginning Saturday 4 June. The Saturday highlights document (note: PDF file) includes a photograph of John Barrowman and Christopher Eccleston and a non-spoiler preview of Episode 11: Boom Town: "Building plans for the heart of Cardiff conceal a plot to destroy the world in Boom Town, written by Russell T Davies. When the Tardis crew take a holiday, the Doctor encounters an enemy he thought long since dead. It soon transpires that plans to build a nuclear power station in Cardiff city are disguising an alien plot to rip the world apart. And when the Doctor dines with monsters, he discovers traps within traps à Christopher Eccleston plays The Doctor,Billie Piper plays Rose and John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness."

John Barrowman was on BBC Breakfast this morning at a little after 9am.BBC News is reporting on the item, which includes a RealPlayer file of the interview, which lasts a little under five minutes.

The Lincolnshire Echo is reporting that Christopher Eccleston could be filming in Lincoln this summer for the new movie "The Da Vinci Code" in which he has been widely reported to be participating. Filming will be focused in Lincoln Cathedral.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Ross Fitzpatrick, Steve Freestone, Chuck Foster, Chris Winwood)

Hello readers... your editor had a very busy last few days so the news got away from me; I'm back now and catching up, first with all the latest news updates on the new series as follows:

Ratings Update

Results have come in for the rest of the weekend after the broadcast ofFather's Day (which we reported on Sunday) from ViewingFigures. The ratings are as follows: the repeat of "Father's Day" on Sunday morning at 12:10am had 156,950 viewers (3.4% viewing share), while the Sunday 7:00pm showing had 532,210 viewers (4.4% share). The initial broadcast ofDoctor Who Confidential on Saturday night at 7:45pm had 579,660 viewers (4.6% share), the repeat early Sunday morning at 12:55am had 86,750 viewers (2.9% share) and the Sunday 7:45pm showing had 297,600 viewers (2.3% share). Confidential and its repeat showings performed excellent in the multi-channel ratings; Saturday's "Confidential 8" was first in its timeslot beating SkyOne's "The Simpson's" which had 488,810 viewers. Very consistent figures again all around on Sunday as well; the "Fathers Day" repeat was second in the 7pm-8:30pm timeslot and "Confidential 8" was placed fourth. Only programs from SkyOne beat, or come close to beating these figures. Once again Doctor Who is producing great results for BBC3 (especially not forgetting these are the third showings in 24 hours.)

New Series DVD News Stories

BBC News reports that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have given the first two "Doctor Who" new series DVD releases a "12" rating -- not to be sold to children under twelve years of age -- based upon the episodes "The Unquiet Dead" and "Dalek". BBC Ceefax notes that this is because of "violence and cruelty as a way of dealing with problems". The Times notes that "Censors ruled that the sequence sets a bad example to children because it implies that the only way to resolve disputes is through force allied with cruelty. A spokesman for the board said: 'However cross one might be with a Dalek, being cruel is not the way to deal with the issue. Some children might take it into the playground.'" The story has also been covered at Monsters and Critics, Pittsburgh Live, Sky News, MegaStar,The Scotsman.

The Times, meanwhile, has run an article condemning the BBFC for this action. "The Doctor's new enemies are, of course, the Censors. Inhabitants of a strange parallel universe known only as the British Board of Film Classification, the Censors suffer from tragic myopia but wield immense power. They have ruled that the latest series of Doctor Who cannot be shown to children under 12, when it comes out on DVD, because of the programme's 'excessive cruelty". The Censors specifically object to a scene broadcast last month in which the Doctor subjects an imprisoned Dalek to a bit of rough-house treatment. Taking a tough line with a species bent on mass murder and world annihilation is clearly too much for the Censors, who are worried that the Time Lord's behaviour may set an unhappy precedent. ... It's good to know that the BBFC are concerned that any Daleks who find their way through space and time into the nation's playgrounds should not be unmercifully bullied. But leaving aside the important issue of just how the nation's children should react to the arrival of a Dalek during lunchbreak (make sure it doesn't feel excluded by picking it first for the football team?) another ticklish question of space travel arises. Just what planet are these Censors on?" A smaller piece in the Timescalls it an "absurd ruling" that "takes the fun out of Doctor Who."

The R2 Project has several items posted on the new series DVD's, includingscreenshots from the first disc's menus and a complete review of the release.

HMV are currently running an instore promotion for the new series DVDs which includes large "Doctor Who" coverings (featuring the Doctor and Rose with the tagline: "The Invasion Starts 16.05.05") over the security scanners situated near store doorways. Meanwhile, Childrens' CBBC is featuring a promotion to win copies of the first DVD release.

According to ezyDVD, Doctor Who fans in Australia will see the first new series DVD release on June 16.

This weekend's Independent reviewed the first three-episode DVD release: "The first three episodes of Russell T Davies' new Doctor Who incarnation may seem horribly unsophisticated next to the American likes of Buffy and Star Trek, but it does have decent effects and a sly sense of humour, and it gives the old formula some tantalising tweaks. The only major misjudgment is the Doctor himself, who now has an unseemly tendency to lech over a woman 880 years his junior. Christopher Eccleston blunders through the role with the fixed grin of a pre-school children's TV presenter, so David Tennant can't take over too soon."

Brighton Exhibition

The Doctor Who exhibition in Brighton has opened. The official BBC Doctor Who website has a video report on the exhibition as well as a Fear Forecast report (the four children who watch each week's episode). There are news reports/reviews at the BBC News and BBC News Southern Counties websites as well as at the DWAS website.

Outpost Gallifrey will feature a special report tomorrow including photographs from the exhibition and resultant news coverage.

Broadcasting

The BBC Press Office has released its weekly Programme Information for the week of 28 May to 3 June. The Featuresdocument (note: PDF file) includes a photograph of John Barrowman outside the TARDIS: "Intergalactic con-man Captain Jack (John Barrowman) tries to help defeat a zombie army in wartime London as Doctor Who continues on Saturday (BBC One). The same document notes that "An exciting new Doctor Who exhibition featuring monsters, villains and a host of original props and costumes, designs and original video clips from the brand-new BBC series opens its doors to the public for the first time on Saturday 14 May on Brighton Pier, and will run throughout the summer season." And the documentof programme highlights for Saturday 21 May gives a brief description of The Doctor Dances: "Wartime London is in the grip of a zombie army in part two of Steven Moffat's time-travelling adventure. The Child's plague is spreading throughout the capital, and its zombie army is on the march.The Doctor and Rose form an alliance with intergalactic con-man Captain Jack, but find themselves trapped in the abandoned hospital. The answer lies at the bombsite, but time is running out… Christopher Eccleston is The Doctor, Billie Piper is Rose, John Barrowman is Captain Jack Harkness and Richard Wilson is Doctor Constantine." There is also a photograph of Eccleston with Richard Wilson, captioned "Richard Wilson (left) joins Christopher Eccleston in the second part of this action-packed wartime adventure".

Radio Times is now listing the BBC1 broadcast of The Empty Child on Saturday 21 May as being only 40 minutes from 6.30 to 7.10pm, with Doctor Who Confidential 9 now starting at 7.10pm (not 7.20pm as previously). Both the late-night and Sunday evening repeats of Empty Child are still listed as 45 minutes, so it's anyone's guess whether the first showing is being edited for the slot.

People

Christopher Eccleston has signed to star in the film "Double Life" from British production company Cougar Films, written and directed by "Doctor Who" first season director Joe Ahearne. The film, set to begin shooting later this year in Hungary, is described as a "high concept sci-fi genre piece." "Joe (Ahearne) is a master at combining great storytelling with high concept," said Cougar Films' Sophie Balhetchet, who produced Ahearne's vampire television series "Ultraviolet" for Channel Four. The film is budged at around 3.5 million pounds and is co-produced with Hungarian Film Connection. News reports on this feature at BBC News, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety,icNetwork, Ananova, Daily Record, RTE, Dark Horizons, The Scotsman, Breaking News, Manchester Online, Irish Examiner, and other sources including print editions of the Guardian and the Telegraph.

Why did Christopher Eccleston quit Dr Who after just one series? According to today's Daily Mail it's because 'You cannot have a life. You can't socialise. It's like having a Tardis in your skull. There were days when I got psoriasis, I got eczema. My face blew up in the Dalek episode -- I looked literally disfigured with tiredness and my skin. It is graft. With TV, you do a 14-hour day and then you're doing your line learning. I ain't moaning, but if you play the Doctor, the hardest thing is you can't have a life.' Meanwhile, this weekend'sSunday Mirror said that "Eccleston's sleep patterns are clearly feeling the effects of Tardis living. We spotted him in Cardiff store Howell's stocking up on Origins' Sensory Therapy range which contains calming herbs to help you drift off and get a good night's kip. Time travel-proof favourites include Sleep Time On-The-Spot Gel Massage Cream, £14.50, and Float Away Sleep-Inspiring Milk Bath, £18."

David Tennant has been nominated as best actor for his performance as Jimmy Porter in the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh's revival of Look Back in Anger, according to the Times. Also in the same category is Nabil Shaban, who played Sil during the Colin Baker years, for his performance as MacHeath in The Threepeny Opera in a production at Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop.

The Daily Star had a large picture of Billie Piper on page 3 of its 14 May edition, with the title "Doctor Phew!" and a brief article in which she was described as looking "Dalek-table".

Russell T Davies was on Radio 4's "Front Row" Monday 16th May, talking about the British Board of Film Classification's 12 certificate for the DVDs, about whether Christopher Eccleston was always only going to to one series, why he doesn't want to talk about the end of series one, and how he was thinking about series 2... all available on Listen Again. Starts 16'45" in and is available at the website.

Author Paul Cornell, who wrote last Saturday's episode "Father's Day," speaks to BBC Wiltshire at their website. The interview is in RealAudio format; visit the site to download it.

Merchandise

The first three Doctor Who new series novels have been released to stores; they are Winner Take All by Jacqueline Rayner, Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole and The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards. They are in stock in UK book stockists and, we're told, in Australia's ABC shop (their release date in Australia is May 31, so ABC Shops have them exclusively until then.)

TV Zone Special #63, a Doctor Who special issue, is now out, including interviews with John Barrowman, on joining the TARDIS crew as "intergalactic rogue" Captain Jack Harkness; Production designer Ed Thomas, on designing the TARDIS set; Concept artist Bryan Hitch, on updating the Daleks and the TARDIS; Mark Gatiss, on writing The Unquiet Dead, acting in Quatermass and writing and acting in the upcoming League of Gentlemen movie; Dalek director Joe Ahearne, on lending some weight to the metal monsters from Skaro; Steven Moffat, on penning the scariest Who script yet; Gillane Seaborne, on producing behind-the-scenes documentary Doctor Who Confidential; plus reviews and more. Details on the issue are available at their UK websiteand/or US website.

Australia Debut Coverage

"Doctor Who" debuts this weekend on Australia's ABC Network and there is a great deal of coverage in the newspapers, most of it very positive:

The Sydney Morning Herald reports from the set. "Only two elements were mandatory when screenwriter Russell T. Davies sat down with producer Phil Collinson and BBC Wales drama chief Julie Gardner to recreate the iconic TV series Doctor Who for a new audience. The haunting, synthesised theme music, by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, is back. So is the blue, 1950s-style London police call box that the Doctor uses to travel through time and space. 'I think those are quintessential parts of Doctor Who, and we'd have been fools to tamper with them in any way,' Collinson says. 'The theme is one of the best pieces of theme music ever written and it sums up the mood and the flavour of the series brilliantly well. As for the police box, for two seconds we toyed with whether our audience would recognise it, but we realised that, fundamentally, it doesn't matter. It's a box, it's small, and when you walk in it's bigger. It's a fantastic concept, as brilliant now as it was in 1963. No one has done it since because it belongs to Doctor Who.' Beyond that, Collinson insists, all bets were off." The interview took place during the filming of "Dalek". Collinson notes that the series is "very modern, very vibrant, action-packed. In order to achieve that you have to almost forget the past and think we're making something really new and hopefully really different." The writer notes that "Getting here, on the set to witness the much-discussed first reappearance of the Daleks, was an epic in itself, involving scores of telephone calls, emails and, finally, a signed confidentiality agreement." Series writer Mark Gatiss says that "For all of us who kept the torch burning all these years, including Russell, the best parlour game a Doctor Who fan can play is: wouldn't it be great if it came back," Gatiss says. "And suddenly it is, but you're dealing with a world of TV realities - ratings count and it's a very different environment." In a sense, Gatiss tells the Herald, the fans had been handed the keys to the kingdom, although Gatiss says it was important to draw a line between their memories and the cold, hard realities of making TV today. "If all of us had just been trying to bring back Doctor Who, I think it would be very different," he says. "It's all about having a proper perspective, and none of the people involved in this reincarnation is a slave to the past. ... You have to remember, Doctor Who wasn't a cult program for most of its life. It was just the most popular program on telly. Where it really started to go wrong was when it began to tell stories that you really wouldn't understand unless you'd seen early serials, such as The Tenth Planet. That is when pop [culture] eats itself - it starts to become too inward looking." There's a large roundup of the classic series in the article as well.

The Herald's TV section, The Guide, also names Doctor Who their "show of the week" and Robin Oliver gives the following review: "This is a tingling introduction to young viewers and a most satifying reunion for old, partly because the Tardis flies again as only an old London police box could possibly manage. This new Doctor Who also tempts because writer Russell T. Davis takes an adult approach to one of television’s most famous characters -- and children will appreciate that. Davis overrides the cash-strapped production values of the past to make his new doctor competitive in a high-tech market, but keeps his soul alive with such jokes as bicycle-pumped gadgetry in the Tardis. ... The young (they will start around eight years) occasionally may be mildly scared, not a bad quality in a series that also mixes-in the humour of the wheelie-bin sequence. Older viewers (the doctor’s friends can never be too ancient) will find Eccleston easily the best time lord since Tom Baker. And he never had a Tardis like this."

The Herald Sun on Sunday said to "Prepare ye for the arrival of the ninth Time Lord played with hitherto unseen mirth by Christopher Eccleston, who only two weeks ago was the new-age Messiah in The Second Coming. ... This Doctor Who series of 13 one-hour episodes, which was launched in the UK earlier this year to a BBC audience of 10 million and generally kind reviews, is great entertainment for the whole family. ... The ninth Doctor Who still travels in the Tardis -- but this time the police phone box is blue and slightly bigger. The real neat change is his choice of companion -- Piper's Rose Tyler harkens to the sidekicks played by the likes of Carole Ann Ford and Katy Manning. She's feisty, cheeky and up for anything. Writer Russell T.Davis has also been let off the leash to make the most of this eclectic new pairing, which may or may not have hints of a romance. The opening episode of this series is OK -- but the outlandish plot suffers a bit for the need to set up the initial meeting between The Doctor and Rose. But the second episode -- where the doctor takes Rose billion years ahead in time to witness the death of Earth (to the jukebox accompaniment of the Britney Spears hit Toxic) -- is a delight, filled with a fabulous array of weird aliens and neat techno-effects."

The Sunday Telegraph noted that "the Doctor is back and he's making housecalls. While a revival of the classic sci-fi series could easily have had Tom Baker choking on his scarf, it turns out that Christopher Eccleston, as the new Doctor, and Billie Piper, as his sidekick Rose, are more than adequate replacements. Right from the opening credits - complete with slightly reworked dum-de-dum electronic soundtrack - there's no mistaking this for anything other than the often camp, often scary and always highly entertaining show that made its debut in 1963. Eccleston does seem a little at odds with his new role as the time-travelling alien adventurer. Perhaps he's just settling in but the actor who won plaudits for his roles in Shallow Grave and as Robbie Coltrane's boss in Cracker seems slightly confused amongst his alien foes, and turns in a rather muted performance. The same cannot be said for ex-pop princess Piper, who shines as the doctor's soon-to-be female assistant."

The Advertiser noted that "Sixteen years since it sank into a TV black hole, cult classic Doctor Who is about to regenerate on Australian screens. .. The new $24 million series has been a smash hit in its native UK, drawing 10 million viewers to its premiere and averaging 7.5 million. ... Series production designer Edward Thomas said there was definitely a chemistry between the Doctor and his sidekick. 'I think the Doctor all the way through the series allows her to have her boyfriends but, at the end of the day, he's so impressive he knows that she'll always come back to him,' he said. Gone are the creaky cardboard sets and comical special effects. The new Tardis has an organic interior, while the daleks will return midway through the 13-part series (flying daleks no less, and even a sobbing dalek that evokes sympathy)." The article features a list of Doctors and companions.

The Sunday Age gives the series its top pick: "Fear not, dear viewer, there really is something more than Desperate Housewives on the horizon. The Doctor is back with a vengeance, a triumph of television in his ninth incarnation thanks to tight scripting, clever editing, dazzling effects and a gloriously full-blooded performance by actor Christopher Eccleston. The big deal of the week is undoubtedly this Russell T. Davies updating of Doctor Who, another wonderfully eccentric journey through time and space with the Time Lord and his alien pals. Davies, a dedicated follower of a program that first went to air in 1963, has managed to bring new spirit to the show without losing a few crucial links to the past. There is still the whooshing and whirring Tardis, that old, now defunct blue police box-cum-spacecraft with its impossibly spacious interior. There is still the familiar pounding introductory theme. And there is still that touch of scary other-worldly loopiness about the Time Lord. But it is the acerbic humour, in-jokes and imaginative plotting as much as the visual spectacle that makes this new venture such a great trip. And the Doctor, sharp, amusing, sometimes alarmingly focused more on the bigger picture than foolish human concerns, is definitely one for our age. Eccleston, possibly the finest Doctor Who since Tom Baker's permed eccentric, plays him with Manchester accent and a fierce intensity. In the opening episode he meets his new sidekick, Rose Tyler, a street-smart London store assistant played with sparky, Buffy-like energy by Billie Piper. The Doctor starts by saving her from an army of plastic shop dummies brought to life."

The Daily Telegraph chose a different approach: "With a brand new series of Dr Who to screen on the ABC this week, the coming months are an obvious time for afficionados and clubs to capitalise on renewed interest in the sci-fi legend. But if it wants to attract attention, the Dr Who Club of Australia might want to add a couple of actual Doctors to the list of those appearing at a Whovention convention in October. The best it can offer is Louise Jameson, who played Leela in the late 70s, and India Fisher, whose claim to fame is starring in a series of Dr Who audio-only adventures." Outpost Gallifrey would hereby challenge the Daily Telegraph to sponsor such guests for our Australian friends, since it costs money to bring guests over!

There's also local television coverage, including in unlikely places. Says our correspondent Paul Kennedy: "In the second year of a quiz called 'The Einstein Factor' on ABC-TV in Australia, a Doctor Who fan is winning. David Campbell, from Brisbane, has 'the television series Doctor Who 1963 to 1989' as his specialist topic and has now won on 3 episodes of the quiz. Each episode of the show has 3 contestants and 3 rounds. In the 1st round against the clock, each contestant answers up to 15 questions on their chosen topic. The 2nd and 3rd rounds have general knowledge questions. David Campbell---not *that* David Campbell, obviously---won his heat early in the year. He then returned and won the play-off. Last week (Sunday 8 May) he won the series final. He will return later in the year in the grand final. In the series final he scored 14 in the specialist round, missing only 'Which is the only of the Doctor's companions never to have travelled in the TARDIS?'"

Other Stories

The BBC has begun a beta test of a new service called 'Backstage' which allows programmers and web developers to use BBC content to produce new applications that the BBC would not normally fund. Among the items made available for the beta test is a Doctor Who news feed in RSS format. Possible uses for this include a Doctor Who screensaver or a desktop 'widget' that displays the latest Doctor Who news from the BBC. The Doctor Who newsfeed can be subscribed to by pointing your RSS software or RSS-enabled browser (e.g. Safari 2.0, Firefox etc) to this site; more details on Backstage availablehere.

Sunday's Daily Star asked "Who's crying wolf? Doctor Who fans think they have found a hidden clue on the show bout how the Time Lord will meet a nasty end. They have spotted several references to something called "Bad Wolf" throughout the series since it began 7 weeks ago... a hint from writer Russell T Davies that the Doc isn't Who he seems to be. They think by the end of the series his true identity will be unmasked - resulting in his death and re-generation into the new Time Lord... Show addicts think the phrase refers to the Doctor being a "wolf in the sheep's clothing". And they believe his sidekick Rose... will only find out the truth at the end of the current series."

A brief visual joke about the possiblity of cost-cutting having an effect on the next series of "Doctor Who" appeared onHave I Got News For You...?(BBC1, 13 May).

BBC Ceefax (14 May) had "Doctor Who" as TV Choice: "No kidding: this is the best episode of the series so far. And it manages to be that despite having exasperating plot holes and convenient solutions. But what's so great is that while we get the usual monsters, this is really about Rose and her dad. She never knew him: he died when she was little. Now she's got the TARDIS though, she wants to go back in time to see him. Rose is played perfectly by Billie Piper, while Shaun Dingwall does well as Rose's father". The BBC homepage (14 May) listed "Doctor Who" as its TV Pick with a prominent picture from the episode crowning its schedules homepage.

Not directly new series-related, but Russell T Davies cropped up a few times on last night's edition of ITV's regular Sunday night arts programme The South Bank Show, this week's edition of which looked at the life and career of Davies' friend and contemporary Paul Abbott, writer/creator of such acclaimed British TV dramas as "Touching Evil" (upon which Davies worked with him), "State of Play" and "Shameless". Abbott talked about how Davies persuaded him to leave writing for "Coronation Street" for the producer's job on "Cracker" in 1993 when he was undecided as it meant a huge pay cut. "It'll make you look taller!" was apparently Davies' advice!

Last Thursday's The Methodist Recorder's TV reviewer David Bridge examined the return of Doctor Who, noting that the show had been billed as suitable for younger viewers he notes. However, as he notes, "one recent episode featured two scenes of torture that were certainly not appropriate for a children's programme." Bridge also noted that Eccleston tackles the role with a "certain jaunty swagger" and that Rose is a "small but significant victory for the women's movement."

The latest edition of British adult comic Viz (May - #145) features Doctor Who extensively in its own choice style. The cover has an illustration of one of its characters Roger Mellie (outrageous broadcaster - and that's putting it mildly) in floppy hat and long scarf running away from other Viz characters/Doctor Who monster hybrids (Mrs Brady/Dalek and Mr Logic/Cyberman) with, in the background, the Tardis plus two Daleks - one of them with a handbag over its sucker and saying "Con-sti-pate, con-sti-pate". The actual Roger Mellie strip does not have any Doctor Who reference, nor do the Mrs Brady or Mr Logic ones, though. The masthead claims that Viz is "the mag that farts a hole through the space-time continuum" and boasts the feature "Cybermen Behaving Badly: Sex Secrets of the Doctor Who Monsters!" The feature is a two-page extract from the fictional memoir called Who Were You With In The Moonlight? by the equally fictional BBC tea lady Iris Poldark, in which she describes her sex sessions with the Master, a Sea Devil and Cyberman, plus a threesome with two Daleks. (To spare the sensibilities of younger visitors to Outpost Gallifrey, no more details are given here, but cognoscenti of Viz and the lurid kiss 'n' tell stories in some of the more sensational newspapers can no doubt guess as to its style and content.) It is illustrated with colour photos of Daleks, Cybermen, Roger Delgado as the Master, and the Doctor with a Sea Devil, plus a mono picture of a woman said to be Ms Poldark and the book cover.

"When we saw the Tardis, we knew this was something significant," Stephen Harries, a director at Cardiff Royal Infirmary, told the Guardian this weekend; the Royal Infirmary is where scenes were shot for the TV drama Doctor Who (specifically in "Aliens of London").

The Guardian on May 14 in the "Smallweed" column stated "Don't you dare do away with our Daleks!" "Much though I enjoy the new Dr Who series, I think it was an infernal liberty on the part of the scriptwriter Russell T Davies to have the last Dalek liquidate itself a fortnight ago. The Daleks in my view constitute a national treasure and to sweep them out of existence is like trying to liquidate, let us say, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle, of course, did so, but such was the public outcry that he had to bring him to life again, adopting the pitiful course of pretending that the great detective's plunge from the Reichenbach Falls could have been other than fatal. I forget the precise explanation - maybe Doyle suggested that someone had left a trampoline at the foot of the falls and Sherlock simply bounced back. There ought to be a similar public outcry now." Er, someone should tell this poor writer...

Clippings

There are many reports on the downfall of ITV on Saturday night and the success of "Doctor Who" in the ratings; some of them can be read atMegastar, Media Week, Broadcast Now,

Other stories: IGN Filmforce reports on recent stories such as the purported film rumors from Cannes and the BBC props folks being shut down; the Crewe Chronicle has an article about Dalek merchandise; more on the Halcyon Software Dalek "invasion" from PR Leap and 24-7 Press Releases;Sheffield Today reports on the appearance of the TARDIS at Hallam FM stage during the sixth annual Mayfest over the May Bank Holiday; and theSunday Timesrefers to Lord Birt, nicknamed "Dalek", and how 'they' might be used to 'exterminate' Gordon Brown's hopes to become prime minister.

(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Chuck Foster, Andy Parish, Peter Anghelides, Gregg Smith, John Bowman, Dave King, Dan Garrett, Jamie Austin, Chris Winwood, Faiz Rehman, Paul Hayes, Peter Weaver, Cameron Yarde Jnr, Eddie Brennan, Andrew Norris, John Hatfield, David Traynier, Ben Stephens, James Sellwood, Paul Kennedy, Stephen Graves, Jonathan Baldwin, and AndyC at the R2 Project)

Father's Day has scored big... 7,471,900 viewers according to the overnights, with an impressive 42.74% of the audience share for the episode. The ITV installment of "Celebrity Wrestling" had only 2.3 million viewers with a 14.2% ratings share. It's an enormous win for "Doctor Who" as the viewers stay equal but the audience percentages get larger. More details soon... (Thanks to Neal Douglas, Nev Fountain)

By the way... a note to our readers -- The rest of the late-week news will be sorted out on Sunday!