German DVD distributer Polyband released a trailer for the upcoming Series 9 DVD and Blu-Ray boxed set, announcing the release date even before the UK.

The 6-disc set, containing all 12 episodes of Series 9 as well as the upcoming Christmas Special, will be released on 18th March 2016. According to the Polyband Website, there will be many bonus features on the set, including a 45 minute interview with the cast, conducted by former Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Will Wheaton.

Series 9 will premier in Germany on 3rd December 2015 on the TV channel FOX. You can already pre-order the DVD's and the Blu-Rays at Amazon Germany.

The writer Anthony Read has died, aged 80.

Born in 1935, Read attended the Central School of Speech and Drama and, following National Service, worked in Fleet Street in advertising, journalism and publishing before deciding to become a full time writer. He joined the BBC on 2nd November 1963 - just some three weeks before the show we remember him for launched on television! Early work included being a writer for The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling and script editor for the Peter Cushing incarnation of Sherlock Holmes, but it was in the latter half of the decade when he became known for The Troubleshooters, a series he script edited, wrote and later produced for.

During the 1970s he returned to being freelance, working on shows such as Marked Personnel, The Black Arrow, Crown Court and Z-Cars (a return to one of the first shows he had written for in 1962). However it was in 1977 when he came to be associated with Doctor Who, invited by producer Graham Williams to take over from Robert Holmes, working alongside the outgoing script editor on Image of the Fendahl and The Sun Makers before formally taking charge of scripts with Underworld. Having co-written The Invasion of Time with Williams, the pair went on to devise the umbrella-themed Key to Time Season Sixteen, with Read also taking on producer duties when his colleague became ill. Having 'discovered' a talented writer during that run, he then recommended the reins of script editing be passed to 'newcomer' Douglas Adams, and returned to write a story for the following season, The Horns of Nimon. After leaving Doctor Who he contributed scripts to The Omega Factor (which starred his first 'companion' Louise Jameson).

Other programmes during this prolific time included The Professionals and the science fantasy cults Into the Labyrinth and Sapphire and Steel; he also dramatised/wrote all three series of Chocky, devised from the book by John Wyndham. A return to the world of Sherlock Holmes with The Baker Street Boys earned him an award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. During the 1980s he moved away from writing for television, though he did contribute to the medium occasionally, notable writing several episodes for The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson in 1998.

A long-time friend with David Fisher (hailing back to the 1960s), the pair collaborated on a number of non-fiction works, including The Fall of Berlin, The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence and Colonel Z: The Secret Life of a Master of Spies. He also wrote a number of solo works focussed around the Second World War, including winning the Wingate Literary Prize for Kristallnacht; however he also kept up his fictional ties, especially with regard to his soft spot, The Baker Street Boys.

A roundup of publicity for the penultimate episode in the current series of Doctor Who, Heaven Sent.

Heaven Sent: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 28 Nov 2015	8:05pm
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 28 Nov 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am GMT)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 28 Nov 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am GMT)
Asia Pacific	BBC Entertainment	Sun 29 Nov 2015	10:00am SGT	(2:00am GMT)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 29 Nov 2015	7:30pm NZDT	(6:30am GMT)
Australia	ABC	Sun 29 Nov 2015	7:40pm AEDT	(8:40am GMT)
Europe (Benelux)	BBC First	Tue 1 Dec 2015	9:00pm CEST
United Kingdom	BBC Two	Fri 4 Dec 2015	3:35am	(British Signed Language)
South Africa	BBC First	Sat 5 Dec 2015	6:00pm SAST
India	FX	Sun 13 Dec 2015	11:00pm IST
Finland	YLE2	Mon 14 Dec 2015	6:05pm EET
Denmark	DR3	Fri 1 Jan 2016	~8:00pm CET	(unconfirmed broadcast)
Germany	FOX	Thu 21 Jan 2016	9:00pm CET	(dubbed into German)

The BBC have released a new synopsis and publicity image for the forthcoming Christmas Special, which stars Peter Capaldi as the Doctor with Alex Kingston as River Song, and also features Greg Davies as King Hydroflax and Matt Lucas as Nardole.

---

The Christmas Special is (of course) due to be broadcast on BBC One on Christmas Day, but the first channel to confirm exactly when they will broadcast the episode is FOX in Germany, whose schedules show that it is due to air there on Thursday 28th January at 9:00pm! This is later than in recent years (where the episode has aired on or close to the same day as the UK) owing to a delay in being able to dub the episodes into German.

Though no other regions have confirmed when they will show the episode as yet, last year's special, Last Christmas, was broadcast in over thirty countries within 24 hours of the UK premiere!

Doctor Who: Sleep No More had an official consolidated rating of 5.61 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 14th most watched programme on BBC Television, and 4th overall on Saturday. The episode finished at 28th in the chart.

Strictly Come Dancing topped the ratings for the week with 11.71 million viewers. Events in Paris resulted in many News programmes entering the Top 30 for the week.

Face the Raven has debuted in Australia, averaging 481,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. The story, written by Australian screenwriter Sarah Dollard, was the highest rating ABC drama of the day and the eleventh highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview, regional or time-shifted viewers.

Meanwhile, including time-shifted viewers, The Zygon Inversion averaged 596,000 consolidated viewers in the five major capital cities. With 130,000 extra viewers it was the third highest time-shifted program of the day and the thirteenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview or regional viewers.

Doctor Who: Face the Raven had an Audience Appreciation or AI score of 84.

The score is a return to form for Doctor Who, following last week's episode, Sleep No More, which scored an unusually low 78.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

The highest score for Saturday, on the five main channels, was for Field of Dreams on ITV, which scored 87.

In 1963 an unassuming science-fiction/fantasy series made its debut on the BBC. Capturing the imagination of some 4.4 million children and adults in the United Kingdom on that dark, late afternoon Saturday, in 2013 the show was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for the simultaneous broadcast in some 94 countries around the world of its fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.

With a single episode broadcast in one country back in 1963, we take a look at what is being shown on 23rd November 2015 (GMT) some fifty-two years later ...

---

It won't have escaped fans' notice, but we once again have a current series of Doctor Who airing over the anniversary, and whilst several countries broadcast the latest episode over the weekend, others are at different stages of the run: today it's the turn of YLE2 in Finland, which will be showing Vaikea valinta (aka The Zygon Inversion) this evening. Other channels are repeating episodes, with ABC2 in Australia and BBC Entertainment in Asia showing an encore of Face the Raven, the latter channel and BBC First in the Benelux countries showing Sleep No More, and FX India having an afternoon of Who broadcasting The Magician's Apprentice through to The Zygon Inversion.

In Europe, the Polish and Nordic variants of BBC Entertainment are currently stuck in a "chronic hysteresis", showing Series 6 and 7 episodes for a number of months now. Each episode is shown several times a day, with today's installments being The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War. The main European channel (also broadcast in the Middle East) is currently showing series seven, with The Rings of Akhaten shown in the early hours of the morning. SyFy in Portugal are also in a "Series 7 loop", beginning again today with O Asilo dos Daleks (aka Asylum of the Daleks).

In the United States, Doctor Who's current "home", BBC America, shows older episodes during the week, with today's broadcasts from Matt Smith's first series, The Vampires of Venice and Amy's Choice. Meanwhile, PBS stations have been broadcasting the previous series over the last few months: for today, Louisiana Public Broadcasting reach the finale, Death in Heaven. Another PBS station, UNC (North Carolina) is currently working through Series 4, today reaching The Sontaran Stratagem and its associated Doctor Who Confidential, Send in the Clones.

TV Cultura in Brazil are also in Series 4, with their weekday broadcasts similarly at O Estratagema Sontaran (aka The Sontaran Stratagem), broadcast in Portuguese.

As well as ABC, Australia also has SyFy which shows a mix of classic and modern Who; today's servings are Kinda part one and Blink respectively (plus The Hand of Fear part one early morning of Tuesday in local time).

BBC Entertainment in Asia also have a regular run of episodes as well as the latest, with today seeing The End of Time: Part One being shown; the channel is also showing Torchwood Declassified, today's being the first episode, Jack's Back.

Jeem in the Middle East is showing Doctor Who Series 8 at the weekends, with The Sarah Jane Adventures on weekday evenings - for today it's the first episode of The Mark of the Berserker. Episodes are shown in Arabic.

Last but not least is the British stalwart of the classic series, Horror Channel, which today embarks upon either the Jon Pertwee swansong Planet of the Spiders or a 'repeat' of Planet of the Daleks from a couple of weeka ago depending on sources!

---

In summary, fifty-two years since a single episode was broadcast, there are 22 different episodes of Doctor Who on air today (including all ten of the current series starring Peter Capaldi), which are being shown in some 73 countries around the world (country count based on channels' availability listings).

Full details on broadcasts of the series around the world can be found via the This Week in Doctor Who website, with regular updates on Facebook.

BBC Worldwide have released a number of photos taken on the first day at the Doctor Who Festival taking place in Sydney, Australia this weekend; guests on stage included current Doctor Peter Capaldi, former Doctor Sylvester McCoy, lead writer Steven Moffat and the human (or Zygon!) half of the Osgoods, Ingrid Oliver.

This item Contains Plot Spoilers

Press reaction to the latest Doctor Who episode, Face the Raven dwells mainly on the tragic demise of Clara Oswald. The most dramatic for over 30 years is how The Telegraph described the event, praising the performance of the actors. "The final farewell between the Doctor and Clara may have teetered onto the wrong side of overwrought, but the story was beautifully played out with yet another stand-out performance from Capaldi."

The Independent thinks the episode will leave the fans reeling. "While writer Sarah Dollard’s influences are clearly on show, this feels like an episode of television you could only ever see on Doctor Who. A heady mixture of science fiction, Gothic whodunnit and emotional rollercoaster, it doesn’t just leave you breathless – it leaves you wanting more."

The Guardian thought the ending was fitting for Clara. "It was a canny move to bring back Rigsy for her exit; remember that the cheeky graffiti artist served as her proxy-companion when she turned proxy-Doctor in last year’s Flatline. In taking on his quantum shade, it was the combination of schoolteachery pastoral instinct and reckless abandon that finally did for her."

Supurb is how Digital Spy classifies the episode. "The execution is fast-paced and energetic without losing any coherence. The dialogue is sparkling and Justin Molotnikov directs with a great deal of verve, drawing animated and emotional performances from the entire cast."

While many will mourn the departure of Clara, Radio Times thinks it was time for a change. "Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi perform her farewell with conviction, all the more effective for their restraint. Several young viewers I know will be inconsolable. I didn’t shed one tear. I will miss Clara/Jenna but am ready for a shake-up; it’s time for a gear change in what Steven Moffat terms the co-leads."

IGN felt the end was missing something. "Did Clara’s death feel lacking in some way? I love the character; I really do. But I wasn’t quite as moved by the events of this episode as I was when, say, the Eleventh Doctor regenerated, or when Rose left."

However Games Radar disagreed. "Doctor Who was back on blistering, series-best, form with “Face The Raven”. Even more impressive: it’s writer Sarah Dollard’s first script for the show."

Finally Den of Geek had no doubt about the triumph of the episode suggesting you go back and rewatch the ending. "With superb audio accompaniment from Murray Gold (and it really was something special), as the episode clocked past the 35 minute mark, both Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi earnt every penny of their fee. Look how they act this sequence out, with Capaldi’s eyes instantly filled with sorrow as he sees what Clara's done, and Coleman’s gradually changing as the realisation hits her. Never mind the excellent dialogue for a second: just watch them."

You can read the Doctor Who News review in our reviews section.