The Christmas double edition of the Radio Times is now generally available, containing all the programming details of the main UK channels for the festive period - including of course the premiere of The Husbands of River Song on Christmas Day itself at 5:15pm, which features as one of "the very best of TV, Film and Radio this Christmas".

The magazine also features a two page interview with Peter Capaldi, during which he talks about the departure of Jenna Coleman this year:

As well as this Christmas's new episode, Doctor Who continues to be available to watch on other digital channels/ After a short break Watch returns with a daily dose of the tenth Doctor from the 20th December leading up to a double dose of Christmas specials on the day itself as he encounters The Next Doctor through to The End of Time; post-Christmas it's the turn of the eleventh Doctor to dominate the afternoon schedules. Meanwhile, Horror Channel continue their latest run though the 'classic' era, with Christmas Day seeing the fourth Doctor end up dealing with the Horror of Fang Rock.

However, there's more fourth Doctor action on BBC4 on the 28th/29th December as the channel broadcasts The Face of Evil! As Patrick Mulkern observes in the Radio Times:

Odds on Who

With the Christmas Day scheduled firmly locked down, bets are firmly in the running as to how those shows will fare with viewers. Here are the average odds across the various agencies at the time of writing:

Time        BBC One                              Odds     ITV                                Odds   
 3:00pm     The Queen                                                                        32/1
 3:10pm     Brave                                  -      Cameraman to the Queen               -
 4:10pm                                                   Countrywise Winter Wonderland        -
 4:35pm     BBC News and Weather                   -
 4:45pm     Stick Man                              -
 5:00pm                                                   For The Love Of Dogs              100/1
 5:15pm     Doctor Who                            24/1
 6:00pm                                                   ITV Evening News                     -
 6:15pm     Strictly Come Dancing                 14/1    You've Been Framed With Bells On     -
 6:45pm                                                   Emmerdale                         115/1
 7:30pm     Call The Midwife                      26/1 
 7:45pm                                                   Coronation Street                  27/1
 8:45pm     Eastenders                            11/2    Downton Abbey                       3/1
 9:45pm     Mrs Browns Boys                       evens
10:45pm     Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show   -     Our Cilla                          71/1

Mrs Brown's Boys is the runaway favourite at present which is unsurprising as it has been the highest rated show three years in a row, with second placed Eastenders topping the chart in 2010 and 2011. The odds currently place Doctor Who as the fifth most likely to top the chart: in 2009 The End Of Time (part one) arguably achieved the top spot on Christmas Day, when the combined viewers on BBC One (11.57m) and the simulcast BBC HD (0.47m) made a total of 12.05m versus The Royle Family's combined total of 11.92m and Eastenders of 11.67m.

Last year none of the Christmas shows managed to break the 10 million mark, with Doctor Who ending up in sixth place with its 8.28m viewers. Could Alex Kingston's return in The Husbands of River Song lead to the crown once again being in the show's grasp once the consolidated ratings are known? It won't be too long to find out, and in the meantime readers can watch out for the launch of our annual Guess the ratings competition soon!

As mentioned earlier this week, the latest edition of the Radio Times to be published, 5-11 Dec 2015, features a festive Doctor Who front cover, an annual tradition from since the series returned in 2005!

This edition covers both the finale of the current series, Hell Bent, and looks forward to the
forthcoming Christmas Special, featuring a three page interview with Steven Moffat, during which he discusses his shyness, how to replace Jenna Coleman and also on taking inspiration from other writers:

Talking about his own eventual departure and on finding on a worthy succesor to run the show, Moffat said:


The 'legendary' Christmas double edition of the Radio Times (19th Dec - 1 Jan), featuring the 'legendary' Doctor Who Christmas Special, is due to be published in London/Midlands on 5th December, and on general sale from 9th December.

Russell T Davies has made a strong defence of the BBC and the licence fee and the values it stands for, but warned the battle may already be lost.

Speaking at the Radio Times Festival, he urged people to consider the alternatives to the compulsory licence fee, such as a subscription model and to look at the schedules of current subscriber services such as the American premium cable network HBO and see what subscribers get for their money. He said: "couple of high class dramas. No news. No soaps.no weather, no radio stations. Google their schedules and see if that is what you want?"

Davies was being interviewed by Alison Graham for the first ever Radio Times Festival, which is being held at Hampton Court in West London. He said his favourite memory of working on Doctor Who was the laughter he had. "It was hard work but we did have fun". He revealed he most enjoyed writing dialogue for Daleks. "They are so clever. I love them".

He also spoke of how proud he was of Doctor Who. "It's indestructible. Imagine if they tried to cancel it now. There would be riots in the streets".

Speaking on writing for the Doctor: "you get the secret of writing for the Doctor when you realise he is much cleverer than you are. Then it falls into place".

He talked about how he started in the industry and advised aspiring writers to just write. "get all the experience you can, not necessarily on your pet project but say for your local youth theatre".

He talked about his current project, a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the BBC. "It's something I've always wanted to do, he told the audience. It has a fantastic cast, and the whole play finishes with a joyous dance choreographed by Arlene Phillips. It's going to be on Saturday night in prime time. Only the BBC would do that".

Davies finished the session by talking to fans and signing autographs.

Doctor Who once more features on the cover of this week's Radio Times, which is out in shops today.

The issue looks forward to the news series and talks to stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, who discuss their on-screen relationship, the challenges of working on the series and the success of the show.

Jenna Coleman on the announcement of Peter Capaldi:

Peter Capaldi on the challenges of working on Doctor Who:

Also in the new issue, Steven Moffat’s series 9 episode guide teases each of the twelve episodes in the new series.

NB: Later this month Frank Skinner will hosting a Doctor Who session at the Radio Times Festival at 7pm on Friday 25th September.

Late September will see Hampton Court Palace host the first Radio Times Festival, celebrating some of the biggest shows on television and radio.

The four-day event takes place between the 24th and 27th September, and features a number of talks and presentations including, of course, Doctor Who, represented on the Friday afternoon by Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin, and also Russell T Davies:


Details for these any of the other sessions will be available via the Festival website, with ticket sales commencing from noon today for Radio Times subscribers via phone or the website; general booking starts from 23rd June.

The Radio Times cover, from the issue which announced the arrival of Peter Capaldi as The Doctor, has been nominated as the Cover of the Year by the PPA.

The Professional Publishers Association have listed the cover as one of ten nominated for the award. Radio Times was nominated last year for the cover celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, but lost out to Metal Hammer when the results were announced.

This year Radio Times faces competition from The Big Issue, Crumbs, GQ, ShortList, Country Life, Elle, n, Red and Time Out.

Voting can be done via the PPA website.

The winner will be announced at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London's Mayfair on the evening of Thursday, July 9.

The new edition of the Radio Times is out today, and features a Top 10 of episodes over the last 10 years, as voted by website readers.

The BBC have released preview clips from Last Christmas and the accompanying Doctor Who Extra.


Meanwhile the latest Radio Times free downloadable retro poster, created by designer Stuart Manning is now available.

Manning told Radio Times:

The full interviews can be found in their respective editions of the Radio Times, with the 13th-19th December issue in the shops now and the double issue covering 20th December - 2nd January due out tomorrow.

Christmas Covers in Previous Years

Big Chief Studios have announced that they will be releasing copies of the Stuart Manning designed posters, celebrating Series 8 of Doctor Who, as a collection of high-quality prints.

The set of posters were commissioned especially for publication in the Radio Times, released weekly in time for each episode. The posters were all individually designed in a retro style with particular attention paid to create striking imagery combined with period typography.

This art will be available to order very soon and will be sold separately as Limited Edition Art Prints, as well as a portfolio collection.

Ordering will be via the Big Chief Website.