Actor Nicholas Smith has died at the age of 81

 Nicholas Smith's first television appearance was as the camp leader Wells in 3 episodes of the 1964 story The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

 He had roles in many other UK drama series including The Saint, The Avengers, The Champions and Ace of Wands. He worked on radio, including an 18 month stint playing music and reading poems in a show called Poetry Corner. He played PC Yates in the police drama Z Cars. In 1979, he appeared in Worzel Gummidge alongside Jon Pertwee, playing Mr Foster, the headmaster of the school. In 2005 He played the Reverend Clement Hedges in the animated film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

 However he will be best remembered as playing the hapless manager, and holder of the key to the executive washroom, Cuthbert Rumbold, in the classic British comedy series Are You Being Served. Smith was in the entire run of the original series as well as appearing in the sequel Grace and Favour. 

Smith died in hospital on Sunday following a fall at home. His daughter is the actress Catherine Russell, who plays Serena Campbell in Holby City.

BBC Worldwide have announced the closure of BBC Entertainment for a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The standard definition channel, which replaced the former BBC Prime in the region in 2009, is itself being phased out in favour of the high definition BBC First which is being steadily rolled out across global markets.

Doctor Who has been shown on the channel across Europe almost without a break since its rebranding (with Love & Monsters being the first under the new banner), and as other local channels slowly ended contracts BBC Entertainment became the place to see the programme in those countries that received it - its widespread accessibility across the continent contributing over a third of the Guinness World Record broadcasting achievement for The Day of the Doctor on the show's 50th Anniversary! The final scheduled broadcast for this year will be The Time of the Doctor in the early hours of Monday 28th December (the episode also being the channel's Christmas Day choice).

The launch of BBC First in those regions has yet to be announced. It is unclear whether the European channel will broadcast older series of Doctor Who in the same way as BBC Entertainment, or whether it will just broadcast current series such as Series Nine has been in the Benelux and South African regions this year (with the latter showcasing the show on its launch in October).


The press release in full:

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BBC Entertainment in Latin America ceased broadcasting Doctor Who earlier this year, with the rights to broadcast Doctor Who passing to SyFy next year.

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent had an official consolidated rating of 6.19 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 7th most watched programme on BBC Television, and 4th overall on Saturday, overtaking Pointless Celebrities which was ahead in the overnight reports.

The episode finished at 27th in the chart.

Strictly Come Dancing topped the ratings for the week with 11.55 million viewers. Once again the top ten was dominated by the latest series of I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here taking seven of the top ten places.

Captain Jack's adventures may not be for the faint hearted,
But he certainly knows how to get the party started!

Willy Phantom, 8th December 2015

Doctor Who: Hell Bent had an Audience Appreciation or AI score of 82.

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 most appreciated programme on Saturday evening was the BBC two repeat of the comedy Dad's Army, which scored 88

Here comes a Dalek but there's no need to run,
It's opening it's armour and wants to join the fun!

Willy Phantom, 7th December 2015

Hell Bent has debuted in Australia, averaging 534,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. The story was the highest rating ABC drama of the day and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview, regional or time-shifted viewers.

Meanwhile, including time-shifted viewers, Face The Raven averaged 657,000 consolidated viewers in the five major capital cities. With 175,000 extra viewers it was the highest time-shifted program of the day (the second highest time-shifted program only had 135,000 extra viewers) and the tenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview or regional viewers.

Press reaction to Hell Bent is in and Radio Times thought the episode a definite hit. "If I was left unmoved by the predictable and, to my mind, tedious events of Face the Raven, episode 12 certainly does push my buttons. It touches me in unexpected ways; it convincingly opens up a well of sorrow and, yes, several times I had a tear in my eye. The first being when the Doctor strums “a sad song” on his guitar, a blues version of a familiar Murray Gold theme. “What’s it called?” “I think that it’s called Clara...” That really got me."

The Guardian called the episode "A psychedelic, head-spinning finale that piled twist upon revelation on top of rug pull." It highlighted the way the story treated the Doctor's home planet. "Moffat’s take on Gallifrey grows richer and more intriguing. We’d always presumed the place to be a fusty, ceremonial place, sort of a sci-fi House of Lords, watching over the universe from a considered distance. And as long as they’ve featured in the show, they’ve always been liable for corruption. But this Gallifrey is an altogether darker construction."

Digital spy however, thought the conclusion to Clara's story misfired. "'Hell Bent' is at points thrilling and affecting - and as ever is blessed by two sensational lead performances from Capaldi and Coleman, who not only anchor but pretty much carry the entire hour. But given that it brings Coleman's time on the series to a close, it's the shaky climax that people will remember, and unfortunately that could end up overshadowing the episode's (many and various) good points."

The reaction in Mashable was also mixed "The show gives us several vague answers to the question of who the hybrid is. We'll get to that. But the finale itself is a hybrid — both brilliant and unfocused, neat in some ways and messy in others. It manages to simultaneously build on and undo the finer points of the two near faultless episodes that proceeded it."

MTV disagreed "Doctor Who gave Jenna Coleman’s Clara not only the best Companion exit in the long history of the series, but one of the most unabashedly gleeful lady power moments on television". Den of Geek thought the final scenes of Clara were firmly aimed at the fans. "Moffat's almost winking at people here. Some haven't liked how Clara became more like the Doctor. Now she's nicked a TARDIS from Gallifrey, and is running in her own way from the Time Lords. Doesn't sound familiar at all, that."

io9 believed the ending saved the episode. "The plot of the episode (and the season) felt severely half-baked, to say the least, and great moments intermingled freely with a certain amount of WTF. But that ending? Was the greatest. That ending retroactively made the whole thing great." Meanwhile IGN called it "a great finish for the character. "

Finally Tv.com said it was "a very satisfying ending to a season that featured a few minor hiccups, but was an otherwise enjoyable and strong season in the TARDIS"

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

4.8 million viewers watched the series nine finale, Doctor Who: Hell Bent, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

The episode had a 21.5% share of the total Television audience.

Doctor Who's figure was slightly inflated by the late running of Strictly Come Dancing which was top for the day with 10.5 million watching. ITV managed 7.7 million for I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! which was ahead of The X Factor which had 6.8.million viewers.

On the overnight figures, Doctor Who was 5th for the day, behind Pointless Celebrities which had 5.5 million.

Final figures will be released next week based on the exact running time of the episode and the number watching within one week.

A cheery Slitheen snowman has come to wish us well,
He hopes that we will stay a while if we can stand the smell

Willy Phantom, 6th December 2015