Australian ratings and news

Doctor Who's excellent ratings in Australia continue despite tough competition from the Beijing Olympics. It has now passed the one million mark for an unprecedented eight weeks in a row. The Doctor's Daughter rated 1,008,000 viewers in the five major capital cities, while The Unicorn and the Wasp rated even significantly more with 1,074,000. TV blogger David Dale also notes that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 'has reaped the benefits of offering an alternative to [Olympic generated] nationalism. Its most popular shows barely suffered a dent in audience - ABC Sunday news andSpicks and Specks drew 1.1 million, Dr Who drew 1 million and a repeat of Agatha Christie's Poirotdrew 994,000 on Friday before the great writer herself met The Doctor himself on Sunday night.'

The Confidential Cutdown versions of 'Sins of the Fathers' and 'Nemesis' also had solid ratings gaining 721,000 and 692,000 viewers respectively in the five major capital cities. By way of comparison, Perfect Day: The Millennium only garnered 500,000 viewers for the ABC at 8.35pm after 'Nemesis'.

Meanwhile, in the local media Conrad Walters of The Sydney Morning Herald describes 'Unicorn' as 'quite spiffing.'CitySearch also praises 'Unicorn' noting the 'amazingly flexible format Doctor Who has. One week, it's an action thriller with aliens invading Earth, the next it's pure science fiction and DNA replicators, and then it's a murder mystery set in 1920's England! And it all works!...It's not often Doctor Who goes as blatantly comedic as it does here - look out for Agatha Christie titles littered throughout the dialogue - but it's a refreshing mid-season breather, especially given the rest of the season looks to be heading into much darker territory.' Meanwhile, Chris Hook of The Daily Telegraphgives 'The Doctor's Daughter' the 'pick of the day' and describes 'Unicorn' as 'another instalment in what is shaping up to be a cracking season.' Fergus Shiel of The Age also calls 'Unicorn' a 'spiffing mix of the English sci-fi and mystery traditions...And as [Russell T.] Davies prepares to blast off from the show that he reinvented so spectacularly, we ought to thank you for the memories and for making the Time Lord timely again and funnier than ever before.'

Meanwhile, the TV Tonight blog reports that Channel Ten will start broadcasting series two of Torchwood on its high definition channel on Monday 1 September 2008 at 10.30pm.

Thanks to contributors to the Australian forums