More Audience data is now available for the Doctor Who Christmas Special,Voyage of the Damned. The programme was enjoyed by both sexes with the 35-54 age group enjoying it the most. The programme scored above the drama average on questions such as whether it was a high quality programme and whether it was original and different. It scored below average on whether it was thought provoking or if the viewer learned something new. An above average sample said they would recommend the programme to a friend.

With overnights now available for the whole of Christmas week, the programme stands at number two in the list of the weeks top rated programmes. If, as expected, this is confirmed when the final figures are released by BARB next week, Voyage of the Damned will be the highest placed edition of the programme in its 44 year history. The previous highest weekly placing was fifth for episode two of Tom Baker's second story, The Ark in Space. The highest placing of the new series has been sixth for Rise of the Cybermen.

The programme finished top of the Children's Chart for the week being the most watched programme on British television by 4-15 year-olds.

Billie Piper married fellow actor Laurence Fox today.

The ceremony took place at 2pm at St Mary's Church in Easebourne, near Midhurst, West Sussex, where the couple live.

Among the guests were David Tennant and Piper's former husband Chris Evans, as well asKevin Whately, alongside whom Fox stars in the ITV seriesLewis.

Also reported by BBC News, Digital Spy, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, AFP, RTÉ, The Sun, The Press Association, ITN, Sky News,The Belfast Telegraph and even the Toledo, Ohio FOX News affiliate.

BBC News and The Times also carry profiles of Piper on the occasion of her wedding.

UPDATE, 1 January: The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mirror, The Scotsman, MSN and Fametastic have further coverage of the wedding, and The Daily Telegraph has another Piper profile.

"Voyage of the Damned" has received both positive and negative reviews in the British press. The Daily Mirror (published before the special aired) calls it "a corker", with "plenty of the Doctor's joky humour, some nice Christmas gags and even a touching romance." However, the reviewer at The Herald (Glasgow) complains that Kylie Minogue looked "matronly". Sam Wollaston of The Guardian feels that Kylie "may be Kylie, but she's no Freema or Billie." The Daily Mirror gives a mixed review, praising the "brilliant psychedelic Pink Floyd-esque imagery" as well as "great baddies ... and neat jokes", but lamenting that "the plot was a mess, consisting mostly of one hi-tech chase scene after another, and it descended into noise and bluster." And theLiverpool Echocalls it "a load of old tongue-in-cheek nonsense".

Tim Teeman, writing in The Times, goes further, saying that "Doctor Who sucks" and calling the show and its protagonist "lazy, predictable and indulgent." But James Walton, writing in the Daily Telegraph "can’t imagine how this episode could have done its job any better", calling Voyage of the Damned "a winning mixture of wild imagination and careful writerly calculation." And 10-year-old George Baker, whose TARDIS bedroom has been previously mentioned on this page, tells Newsround that the Christmas special was "BRILLIANT": "I give it 10 out of 10 - and I cannot wait for the new series!"

UPDATE: A few more reviews have come to light. The Sunday Times describes "Voyage of the Damned" as having "big-screen aspiration with small-screen production values and half a radio script." However, The Stage says "Voyage of the Damned was well up to Doctor Who’s impeccably high standards, neatly combining comedy and thrills to stunning effect," and The Observer says "Doctor Who was an oasis of cheeky nonsense and careless invention."

Before "Voyage of the Damned" aired, Billie Piper was quoted in the Aberdeen Press and Journal saying that she was looking forward to watching the Christmas special, and was envious of her once and future costar David Tennant: "I'm just gutted that I missed [Kylie Minogue]. I speak to David and he's like, 'I've got Kylie's number on my phone.' I want to be Kylie's friend!" The Sun puts Minogue and Piper together in their list of 2007's "top TV babes". TheDaily Mirror has a profile of Piper's "great year", and the Western Mail has a Q&A with the actress.

Kylie Minogue's role in the Christmas special got a lot of coverage in her native Australia, including the Courier Mail(Brisbane, twice), the Herald Sun(Melbourne), Macquarie National News (Sydney) and Sky News. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) calls "Voyage of the Damned" "the greatest Dr Who episode of all time" but also frets that some of Kylie's younger fans may have been unable to tell fact from fiction, as did Sky News.

Digital Spy provides "Ten Things You Never Knew About David Tennant" (although several items may be known to readers of this page).

The Halifax Courier concludes its three-part history of Doctor Who. Part one was linked in the last press round-up, and you can now read parts two andthree.

Catherine Tate's Christmas special has provoked some controversy. Ofcom, the UK's independent media reglatory agency, will investigate complaints that the special contained excessive foul language and stereotypical portrayals of Northern Irish characters. The story is covered by The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Meanwhile, The New York Times has a largely positive review of Tate's comedy series, as its third season airs on BBC America.

The Manchester Evening News has a profile of Frazer Hines, who played the Second Doctor's companion Jamie McCrimmon from 1966 to 1969.

The Sun is claiming that Kylie Minogue's sister Dannii is "tipped" for a role in Torchwood, and has a quote from John Barrowman; this story is also covered by Digital Spy, All Headline News and inthenews.co.uk as well as news sites based in India and Estonia, both of which refer to "Kylie Minogue's successful stint on US TV show 'Dr Who'"!

Thanks to Greg Chapman and "PolyG" of the Doctor Who Forum.

The Sun has released a story which includes spoilers for the "Doctor-lite" episode of Series Four.

Please click on the Spoiler box for more info

Just days after guest starring in the Doctor Who Christmas special Voyage of the Damned - in which she helped to prevent Buckingham Palace from being destroyed, earning the gratitude of the fictional Queen of England! - Kylie Minogue has beenannounced as receiving an OBE in the annual New Year's Honours list.

The OBE - Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - is one of the highest civilian orders. It is awarded by Queen Elizabeth, on the advice of the British and Commonwealth Governments, and has been given to Minogue for her services to music. Although awards given to non-British nationals are usually purely honorary, as Minogue is an Australian national she is entitled to the full award, as Australia is one of the Commonwealth Realms of which the Queen is Head of State.

Minogue is quoted by BBC News as saying: "I am almost as surprised as I am honoured... I feel deeply touched to be acknowledged by the UK, my adopted home, in this way... This last year I have felt so much love and support from everyone as I took greater steps back into the public domain, and it is with absolute gratitude and joy that I say farewell to 2007 and look forward to what the New Year will bring."

Unofficial figures show that the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned was watched by 12.2 million viewers, a 50% share of the total television audience. This is the highest rating the show has achieved since its return in 2005.

The programme was the second most watched of the day, being beaten by the edition of EastEnders immediately following Doctor Who.

The audience peaked in the last fifteen minutes of the show with a massive 13.8 million watching, nearly 55% of the audience. The five minute breakdown shows that over 15 million watched the last five minutes of the programme.

The day was a triumph for the BBC, with BBC One taking nine of the top ten places. Against the Doctor, Emmerdale on ITV1 could only manage 5.8 million, with the Evening News only getting 3.8 million.

The previous highest rated episode of the new series was Rose, which got 10.8 million viewers. If confirmed these figures will make Voyage of the Damned the highest rated episode of Doctor Who in over 28 years. It has the largest audience since the 1979 Tom Baker story City of Death, which had the advantage of being broadcast when ITV was on strike and BBC1 was one of only two channels broadcasting.

In the Children's Charts, Doctor Who was top of the list with 2.2 million under 16's watching, an incredible 65.3% share of the audience.

Final figures, including data for those who recorded the programme and watched it later, will be released by BARB in two weeks time.

Several news sources are running stories on the BBC's Christmas Day dominance, including Doctor Who's large viewing figure. These include The Times,The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, BBC News, The Daily Mail, Digital Spy, The Guardian, Reuters, The Herald, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Manchester Evening News, The South Wales Echo, Variety and The Press Association.

Doctor Who returns today on UK television for its third Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned starring David Tennant and special guest star Kylie Minogue, at 6.50pm on BBC1, followed at 8.30pm by Doctor Who Confidential at Christmas on BBC3. Today's Radio Times listings are below. (And don't forget to come over to The Doctor Who Forum, still the most popular Doctor Who discussion forum online, to discuss the episode and vote in our poll afterward!)

Seven city squares across England will be hosting outdoor screenings of Voyage of the Damned later this week.

The Doctor Who Christmas special will be running continuously from 10am to 4pm on Thursday, December 27 in a move designed to promote the BBC's iPlayer download service.

The screenings will be at:
Bradford (Centenary Square)
Derby (Market Place)
Hull (Queen Victoria Square)
Leeds (Millennium Square)
Liverpool (Clayton Square)
Manchester (Exchange Square)
Rotherham (All Saints Square)

Viewers in the United Kingdom can download the episode, using the BBC iPlayer, for the next seven days to then watch for a limited time.