BBC

The viewing figures for Doctor Who's Season 5 penultimate episode, are in for the overnights.

BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and US premium entertainment network Starz Entertainmenthave today announced a three-way co-production partnership that will develop a new series of the hit BBC sci-fi drama Torchwood. BBC Worldwide will also distribute the series to broadcasters globally.  The 10-episode instalment will be written by a team led by Torchwood creator Russell T Davies and produced by BBC Worldwide productions.

One of the questions we are asked often is how to watch the new (2010) episodes of Doctor Who. As one might guess, these questions for the most part come from outside of the UK. Obviously for those in the UK, one just has to check the Radio Times listings to see where and when they can watch new episodes of Doctor Who on the various BBC channels and/or the BBC iPlayer.

Outside of the UK though, it is trickier, but there are various choices. It comes down to the digital medium, be it digital downloads, streaming, or on a physical disc or transmission/broadcast medium (which today is digital as well, but we get too technical here). 

The Eighth Doctor returns to BBC Radio 7 Sunday 16th may when the station begins airing selected stories from the third series of the Big Finish Eighth Doctor Adventures.

Four out of eight stories will be broadcast, from the series first released by Big Finish in 2009. Radio Seven has previously broadcast the first two series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures.

The series starts on BBC Radio 7 on Sunday 16th May at 6pm with a repeat at midnight BST.
Radio 7 can be heard around the world via the BBC Website.

Unofficial overnight figures for The Vampires of Venice was watched by 6.2 million viewers with a share of 30.6% of the audience.
5.90 million watched on BBC One, where it was again the most watched programme of the evening, with an additional 0.24 million watching on BBC HD.
The rating was down slightly on the previous week, most probably due to the earlier time slot. On ITV1, Funniest Ever You've Been Framed! had 4.4 million watching.

This is now showing a few parallels with Doctor Who of old, that constantly shifting the times of transmission will mean that viewing figures will drop.

Doctor Who's new assistant Karen Gillan discusses life in the TARDIS. Is Amy Pond like a badly paid stripper? Preview of The Graham Norton Show…

Executive Producer and Lead Writer for Doctor Who, Steven Moffat writes in the BBC TV Blog about The Return of the Weeping Angels (The Time of Angels). He says, "Good Doctor Who monsters have to come back - it's a rule. But my feeling is that you always have to bring back a monster and do something different with it."

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter today, it reports that BBC Worldwide has in a statement said, "BBC Worldwide Productions and the FOX Broadcasting Company have mutually agreed not to progress together with a 13-episode serialized 'Torchwood' format. We are currently in discussion with several interested networks."

Writer of some of the best Doctor Who stories in recent years and long time friend of Doctor Who: Podshock, Paul Cornell has written a pilot for a possible new series on BBC3, Pulse.

The 60-minute pilot scheduled for this spring on BBC3 is a medical horror drama set in one of the UK's top teaching hospitals, St Timothy's. It is home of the country's most promising trainee doctors, but beneath its veneer of medical normality lies a secret network of dangerous experiments pushing back the boundaries of science with potentially horrifying consequences.

It stars Claire Foy as Hannah Carter whose mother was a consultant at the hospital before she died suddenly a year prior. Taking a year off teetering on the edge with grief, she's back to resume her training. Hannah remains fragile, so when she starts glimpsing strange events in the hospital and unsettling behavior from her ex-boyfriend and star surgeon Nick played by Stephen Campbell Moore, she's unsure what to believe.

Hannah puts her sanity on the line, ignoring the pleas around her to uncover the truth of the hospital.

Doctor Who is on a billboard, on the sides of buses, and there are screenings in major cities throughout the country, featuring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and executive producer Steven Moffat. What country is this? It's got to be the UK, right?

WRONG!!!! It's the United States of America!

So what's changed? When the show was relaunched in 2005, and when David Tennant became the Doctor there was nothing. Well, that was when the show was on Sci-Fi. Now it's on BBC America, the show's natural home, and these people just get it! They know that the show can be a huge success - it's already the #1 show on the channel, and want the show to be even bigger!

The preview promo for episode 2 of the 2010 series of Doctor Who, The Beast Below. Be sure to catch our live over-the-net review the day after on Sunday.

So now that the 11th Hour has Aired on British TV, the first points are in.

8.3 million: is the initial number of People who watched Who on the overnights.  That's the Overnight figures from the BBC for BBC1 and BBC HD, this does not include DVR recordings for those not able to watch live, or the Number of views on the iPlayer.  Though quite interestingly enough, the quality of Video for the Confidential on the BBC iPlayer was Higher than for the actual 11th Hour programme its self.

I got another Birthday Treat as Series 6 has been confirmed for next year, Speaking at Thursday's Press Launch, New Series Producer, Piers Wenger, has confirmed that Series Six of Doctor Who has been commissioned and that Matt Smith will return as The Doctor, as well as starring in a Christmas Special later in the year.  There is currently no confirmation whether the new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), will return or not.

Series Five Press Pack

This is part of the Information released to the press as part of the usual Programme launch press pack.  It includes two interviews one with Matt Smith and one with Karen Gillan.

The latest promo trailer for Doctor Who, the new series starting Saturday 3 April 2010 on BBC One.

@BBCAmerica had tweeted that fans have already posted Matt Smith's interview with BBC News. He is attending a screening of the first episode of the upcoming new series, Eleventh Hour in Cardiff.

UK viewers will get an exclusive preview of The Eleventh Hour from next Wednesday when the first minute of the episode is made available on the BBC Red Button service.
The clip will launch on 24th March and will be available at various times until the series launches at Easter Weekend. On day one the clip is expected to be available from 6am-2pm, from 3pm to 5.50pm and then from 9.10pm onwards.
The BBC red button service can be viewed on digital platforms in the UK. Details on the BBC Website Follow the Link Below.

BBC Website

The Sonic Newsdriver 20100317
Selected Doctor Who related news delivered sonically.
For Earth-date: Wednesday, the 17th of Mar. 2010

BBC America Tails Behind BBC One by Two Weeks, Gallifrey 21 Two Weeks Out (DVD news), BBC Secures 40% of 2entertain, Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun with The Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who on Tour, You Rock (Ken Ray of Mac OS Ken) and more.

Hosted by Louis Trapani

The BBC Press Office has given notice of a Doctor Who UK tour, Staring on the 29th of March in Belfast Northern Ireland. Then it will move through Inverness (Karen Gillan's Home Town), Sunderland, Salford( Christopher Ecclestone's Home town) and landing in Northhampton (Matt Smiths Home town)

Following the tour, from 1 to 3 April, the BBC will also hold events for three days at selected BBC Big Screens across the UK giving Doctor Who fans in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Plymouth and Swansea.

The events will feature exclusive footage – including the chance to see the Doctor Who trailer in 3D – and giveaways, and fans can also get their photo taken tumbling through the giant vortex, And meet the Monsters on top.

The BBC is seeking a new producer to head up series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures according to an article today on ATV Network. It states that shooting is due to start in March and that the BBC will produce 12 episodes starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.

This comes on the heels of yesterday's report in The Hollywood Reporter that The Sarah Jane Adventures creator and producer, Russell T Davies is spearheading a US version of Torchwood with Fox. We can assume the reason the BBC is seeking a new producer for CBBC spin-off of Doctor Who is due to the fact that Russell T Davies is in the US and if reports are correct, may be busy with the US Torchwood project.

Nothing's posted yet, but keep an eye on this site for a Who memorabilia auction:

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=catalogue&iSaleNo=18192