The conclusion to this year's series of Doctor Who, The Timeless Children, had an official rating of 4.69 million viewers, according to figures released by the Broadcasting Research Audience Board, BARB.

The figure is the lowest consolidated figure for an epiosde of Doctor Who since the series returned in 2005, a record previously held by the 2017 story, The Eaters of Light. Out of 861 episodes of Doctor Who broadcast since 1963, only 33 have achieved a lower rating.

To put the figue in perspective, it was still the 30th most-watched programme on British TV for the week, much higher that the position achieved by the majority of episodes of Doctor Who shown over the years. The episode had a 21.5% share of the total TV audience.

In detail 4.55 million watched the episode on a conventional TV set. An additional 70,000 watched on their PC, 39,000 watched on a Tablet device and 34,000 watched on a smartphone.

Top for the week was Ant and Dec's Saturday Takeaway on ITV with 7.41 million watching. The top BBC programme was the drama Death in Paradise with 6.78 million.

Doctor Who had an Appreciation Index score of 82

The average viweing figures for 2020 now stands at 5.40m as oposed to 7.96m for Series 11 in 2018. This is lower than Series 10 which averaged 5.64m. It is still higher than the lowest rated season, season 26 which averaged 4.31m .

Hero Collector has launched the newest entries in its range of Doctor Who Chibi merchandise: fun pin badges and socks, decorated with chibi-style Doctor Who art.

Hero Collector designs, manufacturers, and publishers of high-quality collectables from across the worlds of pop culture. They already offer pin badges for each incarnation of The Doctor, from William Hartnell's first incarnation to Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor. Now the darker side of the Doctor’s adventures is coming out to play, with almost a dozen iconic monsters captured as chibi-style metal pin badges!

Fans can collect a relentless Cyberman, reptilian Ice Warrior, diminutive Sontaran, wide-eyed Slitheen, terrifying Weeping Angel, ominous Ood, cold-hearted Snowman, an eerie Silent, and three different designs of Dalek.

These badges can be collected individually or as part of three new box sets, collecting Classic Doctors, Modern Doctors, and Monsters. Each design makes a perfect addition to any outfit – even better than a decorative stick of celery…

Plus, fans looking to add a little menace to their footwear can grab three new pairs of Doctor Who Chibi socks – the Cybermen, Daleks, or Weeping Angels decorate these sinister socks, which are 80% cotton and equal parts scary and soft!

These new Chibi Pin Badges and Chibi Monster Socks are all available exclusively on the Hero Collector webstore.

Pin Badges retail at £5.99, or £34.99 in a3 seven-badge box set. Socks retail at £4.99, or £11.99 in a three-pair set.

Silva Screen Records have announced a two-volume release of Segun Akinola's score for the latest series of Doctor Who, due out on 3rd April 2020 both digitally and on CD.

The composer said:

Track Listing:

Volume 1 1. Series 12 Opening Titles 2. The Attacks 3. Hold On 4. MI6 5. Beyond Your Understanding 6. Doctor, The Doctor 7. Going Undercover 8. The Spy Master 9. Don’t Panic 10. The Incredible Shrinking Device 11. Thank You 12. The Lie 13. Tranquility Spa 14. Stay Alive 15. One Possible Future 16. Big Fat Liar 17. The American Sense of Humour 18. Official Eviction Notice 19. Superior Minds 20. The Future Is Mine 21. Judoon Warning Transmission 22. You Missed Me, Right? 23. Fugitive Identified 24. The Lighthouse 25. Something Is Coming for Me

Volume 2 1. Together and Alone 2. Praxeus 3. Three Idiots Roaming 4. Get Everyone Out 5. The Bloke Watching Your Dreams 6. His Eternal Partner 7. It’s Not Just You 8. Tales of The Dead 9. A Traveller Moving Through Time 10. Quicksilver 11. She Was the Universe 12. Brendan 13. Be Afraid 14. The Fall 15. The Ascension Shall Begin 16. Everything Is About to Change 17. Tecteun 18. Time Lords 19. The Division 20. CyberMasters 21. My Penance 22. Home Sweet Home 23. Ascension of the Cybermen End Credits

Series showrunner Chris Chibnall said:

Obverse Books has announced a new book written by former Doctor Who brand manager Edward Russell, looking at the making of Doctor Who from its return in 2005 through to the casting of the first female Doctor in 2018.

Edward Russell on the show throughout the David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi years, and is one of the few people to have an intimate back-stage knowledge of the BBC show. His is able to comment on every aspect of the production from behind the scenes.

With responsibility for everything from day to day publicity to large scale media events, and with a working relationship with the creative team over 12 years of filming, Edward is uniquely placed to shed light on the personalities and processes which go into building a television legend.

There have been a plethora of books about Doctor Who, but speaking to Russell it quickly becomes clear that his was a new – and very well informed – perspective. This is the story of how Russell T Davies took a long gone, but fondly remembered, cult tv show and turned it into a broadcasting phenomenon, and how Steven Moffat then took over the baton and ran with it. Russell sumed up the experience in one sentence. The Trip of a Lifetime – The Making of Modern Doctor Who will be available in Winter 2020, from Obverse Books.

Silva Screen Records have announced a two-volume release of Segun Akinola's score for the latest series of Doctor Who, due out on 3rd April 2020 both digitally and on CD.

The composer said:

Track Listing:

Volume 1 1. Series 12 Opening Titles 2. The Attacks 3. Hold On 4. MI6 5. Beyond Your Understanding 6. Doctor, The Doctor 7. Going Undercover 8. The Spy Master 9. Don’t Panic 10. The Incredible Shrinking Device 11. Thank You 12. The Lie 13. Tranquility Spa 14. Stay Alive 15. One Possible Future 16. Big Fat Liar 17. The American Sense of Humour 18. Official Eviction Notice 19. Superior Minds 20. The Future Is Mine 21. Judoon Warning Transmission 22. You Missed Me, Right? 23. Fugitive Identified 24. The Lighthouse 25. Something Is Coming for Me

Volume 2 1. Together and Alone 2. Praxeus 3. Three Idiots Roaming 4. Get Everyone Out 5. The Bloke Watching Your Dreams 6. His Eternal Partner 7. It’s Not Just You 8. Tales of The Dead 9. A Traveller Moving Through Time 10. Quicksilver 11. She Was the Universe 12. Brendan 13. Be Afraid 14. The Fall 15. The Ascension Shall Begin 16. Everything Is About to Change 17. Tecteun 18. Time Lords 19. The Division 20. CyberMasters 21. My Penance 22. Home Sweet Home 23. Ascension of the Cybermen End Credits

Series showrunner Chris Chibnall said:

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has an exclusive interview with Jo Martin, who guest-starred as the Doctor in Fugitive of the Judoon and The Timeless Children.

Other highlights include:

• Ray Holman reveals how he created the costume worn by Jo Martin’s Doctor.
• A celebration of ten years of the Eleventh Doctor with new insights from former showrunner Steven Moffat.
• An exclusive preview of the new, animated version of The Faceless Ones.
• A disc-by-disc guide to the new Season 14 Blu-ray box set.
• The second part of an interview with Timothy Combe, director of Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Mind of Evil.
• Plot Devices revisits some of the real historical figures the Doctor has met over the years.
• The Fact of Fiction continues its epic exploration of The Daleks’ Master Plan.
• How to recreate the Fifth Doctor’s costume.
• A new series of articles begins with a look back at The Fishmen of Kandalinga.
• Updates on Doctor Who luminaries, past and present, with Time and Space Visualiser.
• Public Image looks at how Doctor Who is doing in the TV ratings.
• Share your views about the latest series of Doctor Who in the annual season survey.
• Part One of The Piggybackers, a new comic-strip adventure featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends.
• Big Finish previews and reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, The Blogs of Doom and much more!

On sale from Thursday 5 March 2020 £5.99 (UK)

BBC Studios and Escape Hunt have announced a brand-new Doctor Who escape room, Doctor Who: A Dalek Awakens.

The newest game can be booked from today at Escape Hunt Reading and Birmingham Resorts World with several other venues, including Norwich and Basingstoke, opening throughout 2020.

Players will step onboard a doomed spaceship, invaded by the fearsome Dalek. This age-old enemy has tapped into the ship’s power system and is preparing for a path of ruthless extermination, the only way for teams to stop the Dalek, is to shut down the ship’s power.

But by shutting down the power, players will also shut down the ship’s life support system, risking the lives of all 10,000 passengers and crew on board.

Teams of up to six are given 60 minutes to solve the puzzles, resolve this impossible situation and prevent catastrophe before the time runs out and extermination is guaranteed for all.

Richard Harpham, CEO Escape Hunt PLC, says Doctor Who: A Dalek Awakens is playable at Escape Hunt Reading from the 9th March and at Birmingham Resorts World from 11th March, while fans in Norwich and Basingstoke can sign up to hear when the immersive adventure is available to book in their cities.

Tickets for Doctor Who: A Dalek Awakens are from £25 and are on sale now via escapehunt.com/doctor-who

Doctor Who, Ascension of the Cybermen, had an official rating of 4.99 million viewers, according to figures released by the Broadcasting Research Audience Board, BARB.

The ratings make the episode the 25th most watched programm across all television channels. It had a 22.6% share of the total TV audience.

In detail 4.85 million watched the episode on a conventional TV set. However the BARB 4-Screen Dashboard shows that an additional 68,000 watched on their PC, 38,000 watched on a Tablet device and 33,000 watched on a smartphone.

Top for the week was Ant and Dec's Saturday Takeaway on ITV with 8.70 million watching. The top BBC programme was the drama Call the Midwife with 8.01 million.

Doctor Who had an Appreciation Index score of 81

Luxury brand Corgi and BBC Studios have today launched the range of Doctor Who knitwear worn by Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor.

Corgi’s Doctor Who range will include 100% cashmere socks, wool socks, a cashmere scarf, a wool scarf and a hand-made cashmere and cotton blend jumper. The luxury yarns are sourced from suppliers in the UK who use yarns from sustainable sources. The knitwear is made using traditional hand knitting techniques and hand-finished. All the products are made in the UK at Corgi’s factory in Ammanford, Wales.

The range was designed by Costume Designer Ray Holman for the Thirteenth Doctor’s costume and is now available to fans across the world for the first time.

Ray Holman, Costume Designer, said: Corgi is a Welsh, family-run company producing luxury socks and knitwear. Established in 1892, the company is still located in a small Welsh mining town and has developed a reputation as a leading luxury sock and knitwear brand. Corgi was awarded a Royal Warrant by HRH the Prince of Wales in 1988, and continues to supply the Royal family with knitted goods.

The launch coincides with a royal visit at the Corgi factory in Wales, with Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, arriving to meet staff in her capacity as President of the UK Fashion & Textile industry. Princess Anne was shown the new Doctor Who range as part of this visit and presented with a cashmere Doctor Who scarf as a gift.

Chris Jones at Corgi, said Products are available to fans worldwide on the Corgi website corgisocks.com and range in price from £19 to £295 RRP

Doctor Who The Timeless Children, was watched by 3.78 million viewers in the UK yesterday according to unofficial overnight figures.

The rating, representing 19.8% of the total viewing audience made Doctor Who the 7th most popular show on British Television yesterday. Doctor Who was beaten by its ITV opposition, Dancing on Ice, which had 4.14 million viewers.

Top for the day was the lead into Doctor Who, Countryfile, with 4.44 million viewers. Following the Doctor Antiques Roadshow had 4.41 million watching. The latest episode of Last Tango in Halifax, had 4.17 million viewers. Over on ITV McDonald and Dodds was the highest rates show with 4.38 million watching.
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The 10pm BBC News also did well with 4.38 million watching.

On overnight figures, Doctor Who was the 49th most-watched programme of the week.

The overnight figure counts those who watched the show yesterday. Final figures, released next Monday, will include those who recorded the programme and watched it later and are likely to be substantially higher.