Doctor Who: Face the Raven had an official consolidated rating of 6.05 million viewers.

The rating issued by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, or BARB, includes all those who watched the programme within one week of transmission. It does not include those watching online via iPlayer

Doctor Who was the 11th most watched programme on BBC Television, and 4th overall on Saturday. The episode finished at 30th in the chart.

Strictly Come Dancing topped the ratings for the week with 11.77 million viewers. The top ten was dominated by the latest series of I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here taking six of the top ten places.

Dr Who stars Peter Davison and Sophie Aldred celebrated Doctor Who’s 52nd birthday and supported the future of the BBC this afternoon. The pro-BBC demo took place outside Broadcasting House in Central London.

Tony Hall said the BBC could do more to devolve decision-making on BBC services to the devolved nations.

The director-general of the BBC Tony Hall laid into the doomsayers who had criticised the BBC’s decision to move some of its drama production to Cardiff during a speech at Cardiff Business Club last night.

Describing his first visit to the Roath Lock studios as director-general two and a half years ago, Mr Hall said “there were still voices which said that the BBC had taken too much of a risk trying to create a centre of excellence for drama in Cardiff. The independent sector would not be strong enough. The talent wasn’t here.  “We felt differently.

“Today Roath Lock is a world-class powerhouse of drama production. The permanent home of flagship dramas Doctor Who, Casualty and Pobol y Cwm.

“And BBC Wales’ success in network production has been a catalyst for the remarkable transformation of the creative industries in Wales – a sector capable of attracting Hartswood, the makers of Sherlock; Fiction Factory, makers of Hinterland; Fox, makers of The Bastard Executioner; and of course Pinewood, whose new studios mean more investment and jobs, and more sustained economic activity for Wales.”

The director-general said that Russell T Davies chose Wales to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream “because he believed only the team capable of creating the alien lifeforms and landscapes of the furthest reaches of the galaxy could recreate the fairyland dreamscapes of Shakespeare’s setting.”

Mr Hall said the corporation’s move to its new headquarters building in central Cardiff would “kick start one of the biggest regeneration projects in Cardiff’s recent history, spreading yet more benefits– just as we have in Salford and Glasgow.”

A recent economic impact study estimated that the BBC’s move to Central Square could help generate £1bn in benefits to the South Wales economy over the next decade.

But he admitted that the BBC could do more to “tell the story” of Wales to the rest of the UK.

And he added that the corporation could be better at devolving decision-making about how it spend its money on BBC services “for the nations, to the nations.”
Mr Hall also spoke about the review of the corporation’s charter, and made a plea for the new charter to strengthen the BBC’s independence “which is fundamental to its creativity.”

He said only a broadcaster that was not afraid to take risks would have made successful programmes such as the Great British Bake Off, Blackadder or Wolf Hall.

He added that the BBC’s independence has “suffered 20 years of gradual erosion”, and said that reducing the length of the charter to five years would threaten it further by bringing charter renewal within the political cycle.

“I like the fact that this conversation took place between the future showrunner and future Master”

Steven Moffat always knew that he was going to write Doctor Who – he told Missy at a party.

In the latest issue of Radio Times, the showrunner recounts the time in 2001 where he and Michelle Gomez, the wife of then-Coupling star Jack Davenport, got drunk and predicted the future.
“She recalls and I do not – when we were all out in Montreux in 2001 and Coupling won the Silver Rose. We all partied, so drunk we could hardly speak, and I said, ‘I swear I’m gonna make Doctor Who one day.’ I like the fact that this conversation took place between the future showrunner and future Master.”

In the wide-ranging interview, the showrunner reflects on his critics, the next companion and what he told Peter Capaldi before this series of Doctor Who: “You’re the raddled old rocker. If you want to play your electric guitar on top of a tank, you damn well do it.”

Read the full interview with Steven Moffat in the new issue of Radio Times magazine on sale from Saturday 28th November 2015

The showrunner hasn’t chosen the new companion yet, but he’s got some ideas…

Jenna Coleman’s Doctor Who replacement is still a twinkle in Steven Moffat’s eye, but while the showrunner hasn’t yet chosen the next companion he does have some strong ideas about the character, which could send the series in a new direction…

Speaking in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, Moffat admits he has “specific ideas but not a specific actress” in mind, but says “A new companion gives us the chance to relaunch the show. And we’ve got a really cool new idea about how to do that.”

Talking of personnel changes, Moffat says he is also considering who will take his place when he finally leaves Doctor Who. And although he has just signed up for another series, it sounds as if his departure could come in the not-too-distant future.

“That’s an issue I’m actively engaged in,” says Moffat. “Everything is difficult in Doctor Who, including leaving. I’d never leave it in the lurch because it means too much to me. Let’s not pretend it’s not a big problem. But there will be a solution.”

Read the full interview with Steven Moffat in the new issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale from Saturday 28th November 2015.

The Doctor faces the Time Lords in a struggle that will take him to the end of time.

Kenneth Gilbert, who played World Ecology Bureau official Richard Dunbar in the Tom Baker classic The Seeds Of Doom (1976) has died at the age of 84.

Prematurely grey and with distinguished granite features, he often played authority figures, although the one he portrayed in Doctor Who found himself on the wrong side of the fence. Dissatisfied with seeing “non-entities” promoted in his place he sells the location of the Krynoid seed pod to eccentric millionaire Harrison Chase and so initiates a chain of events which nearly results in mankind’s consumption by lethal alien vegetation. He has an attack of conscience and tries to remedy the situation, leading to Chase’s famous instruction to his underling – “Scorby – get Dunbar”. Scorby doesn’t get him but the Krynoid does, and the civil servant perishes in the climax of episode four. It’s a strong performance from Gilbert who maintains a stoical dignity even when selling his soul: he had a gift for subtle underplaying which lent his characters a touch of class and made him such an essential actor for character parts.

Born in Devon in 1931, Gilbert’s early stage work included a 1957/58 stint with what was to become the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre playing (amongst others) Balthazar in Romeo And Juliet (with Richard Johnson and Dorothy Tutin), Valentine in Twelfth Night and the Priest to Michael Redgrave’s Hamlet. He stayed at Stratford for the following season playing opposite Charles Laughton’s King Lear and Paul Robeson’s Othello.

He was the principal actor at Pitlochry’s 1975 season playing Solness in The Master Builder and Richard in On Approval. For the Old Vic he toured in Henry VI Parts I and II and Henry V (1974-1975) and played the key role of Enobarbus opposite Alec McCowen’s Antony in their 1977-1978 Antony And Cleopatra (Derek Jacobi was Caesar). Other theatre work included St Joan with Eileen Atkins (Prospect Theatre 1977), Judge Brack to Joanna Lumley’s Hedda Gabler (Dundee 1985), Boyet in Love’s Labours Lost (Ipswich, 1992) and the title role in The Wizard Of Oz (for the RSC at the Theatre Royal, Bath 1994-1995).

He was a familiar face on television, appearing on the small screen as early as 1953 in The Heir Of Skipton. He kept busy throughout the 1950s and by 1961 was playing opposite William Russell’s Hamlet. Prominent roles included Friar Tuck in Wolfshead: The Legend Of Robin Hood (1969) and Harold Earle in House Of Cards and To Play The King (1990/93) and these were augmented by countless guest parts in everything from No Hiding Place (1963) to Hustle (2011) via Callan (1969), The Mind Of Mr JG Reader (1971), Crown Court (1973), Edward VII (1975), The Changes (1975), The New Avengers (1976), Testament Of Youth (1979), Enemy At the Door (1980), The Gentle Touch (1981), Cracker (1995) and Midsommer Murders (2003) often playing policemen, doctors or authority figures. He could consider himself to be one of Douglas Camfield’s rep of actors and worked with the acclaimed director many times including on The Sweeney (1976) and Ivanhoe (1982) : Camfield liked casting actors he knew could do the job and wouldn’t need too much direction, so his continued use of Gilbert can be taken as a mark of his quality. Gilbert also had an underused gift for comedy as well as a natural authority which mad him so useful to at bringing presence and watchability to potentially dull roles.

He almost didn’t make it into Doctor Who. As he recalled many years later “I rang the production office and said ‘Look, I think I’ve caught my daughter’s chicken pox.’” He thought this would involve taking a couple of days off but under doctor’s orders was out of action for several weeks. He could easily have lost the job but instead the studio schedule was altered to accommodate his absence – a great deal of trouble and expense in order to retain the services of an actor deemed vital to the success of the production.

He married the actress Beth Harris in 1966 and the couple lived in East Anglia for many years. She predeceased him, passing away in 2012. Kenneth Gilbert died on October 29th.
News Source: Toby Hadoke

A study found that female characters have fewer lines in his scripts.

Steven Moffat has denied that Doctor Who has become ‘more misogynist’ under his watch, after a study found that female characters had fewer lines on the show since he took over as lead writer.

The study, which was carried out by US university students, determined that female characters had more speaking roles and more speaking time under his predecessor Russell T Davies.

Admitting it was a “complicated issue”, Moffat told the Radio Times: “The general point being made by these people is correct. We need better female role models on screen.”However, he went on to take issue with the study, saying: “Maybe this is my dimwittery but I do not understand why Doctor Who of all shows is singled out as misogynist.

“I’m sure I’m to the left of a lot of my detractors.”
The news comes after Jenna Coleman made her final appearance as Clara Oswald on the show last weekend.

Speaking of her departure, Moffat said: “Doctor Who does that form of bereavement rather well.”We have an emotionally engaged hero and those women he knows are not like James Bond girls. They don’t just disappear between movies. When the Doctor ends a friendship, it tears him apart.”