Planet Mondas

The BBC has issued the following press release:

Doctor Who’s biggest moment in history was celebrated around the world this weekend as Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor , was watched by 10.6 Million viewers on BBC One, simulcast in 94 countries around the world and shown in over 1500 cinemas.

The Doctors embarked on their greatest adventure in the 50th anniversary 75 minute special episode, starring Matt Smith, David Tennant and Jenna Coleman with Billie Piper, John Hurt,  a surprise appearance from Tom Baker and a glance of the new Doctor Peter Capaldi.

Along with a BBC One peak audience of 10.6M and average 10.2million (37.4% share)  on Saturday night, The Day of the Doctor was simulcast in 94 countries including UK, US, Canada, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Peru.

834 cinemas around the world also screened the episode live at 7.50PM with 1559 in total showing the Anniversary episode.

Writer and executive producer Steven Moffat says:

10.2 million. I’m astonished and moved – and that’s only the score so far, that’s just the overnights. I speak from personal experience when I say that there’s nothing better the morning after your 50th birthday than knowing you’ve still got it.  Happy birthday Doctor – go get ’em you old devil!

Charlotte Moore, Controller BBC One says:

The 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who was a spectacular event on BBC One that really brought the nation together, cutting through time and space to simulcast in 94 countries and celebrate this great British icon.

Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama adds:

What a triumph! I couldn’t be prouder of Steven, Faith and the team for pulling together such a blinder of an episode. Not only a great celebration of a great show, it also perfectly showcased why the BBC remains such a great and important institution.

BBC Three followed the episode with Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty, hosted by Zoe Ball and Rick Edwards, which drew 1.3 million viewers as Matt Smith and guests discussed the Doctor’s most epic adventure yet.

The success of the celebrations also included BBC Two’s An Adventure in Space and Time, a special one-off drama by Mark Gatiss that travels back in time to 1963 to see how Doctor Who was first brought to the screen, which gained an average audience of 2.2M viewers and 9.7% share on Thursday night.

Also on BBC Two Professor Brian Cox explored the universe of the world’s favourite Time Lord in The Science of Doctor Who, with 2.6 million viewers (12.1% share), plus an hour-long special of BBC Two’s flagship arts programme The Culture Show presented Me, You And Doctor Who.

BBC Three content also included a Monsters And Villains Weekend, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide Who and there was also programming across CBBC with 12 Again, two Blue Peter specials, and a Blue Peter competition giving viewers aged between six and 14 the opportunity to design a new gadget that will become part of the iconic series.

The exclusive Doctor Who mini episode, The Night of the Doctor, for BBC iPlayer had over one million requests on iPlayer in its first three days – the top performing programme on iPlayer during this period.

In total, Doctor Who programmes have been requested on BBC iPlayer more than 100 million times over BBC iPlayer’s history and is one of the most successful programme brands on iPlayer. Doctor Who also features in the top ten most-requested individual episodes on BBC iPlayer of all time (Series 5, episode 1, The Eleventh Hour, with nearly three million requests).

It’s not just TV where audiences joined in the celebrations; programming across Radio 2, Radio 1 and Radio 4 Extra also marked the 50th.

Google even joined in the celebrations with its most ambitious doodles – a special game to celebrate the 50th Anniversary for 24 hours globally.

The Day of the Doctor was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Nick Hurran. Executive produced by Steven Moffat, Head of Drama BBC Cymru Wales, Faith Penhale and Brian Minchin.

[singlepic id=651 w=320 h=255 float=right]Last night’s simultaneous broadcast of The Day of the Doctor to 94 countries has been officially named the world’s largest ever simulcast of a TV drama by the Guinness Book of Records.

Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of the Guiness World Records, presented a certificate to showrunner Steven Moffat today at the ExCel Centre in London, saying:

Who else but the time-twisting Doctor could appear in 94 countries at once?! This outstanding achievement is testament to the fact that the longest-running sci-fi TV show in history is not just a well-loved UK institution but a truly global success adored by millions of people.

Accepting the award, Moffat said:

For years the Doctor has been stopping everyone else from conquering the world. Now, just to show off, he’s gone and done it himself!

Tim Davie, BBC Worldwide’s chief executive officer, said:

We knew we were attempting something unprecedented in broadcast history, not only because Doctor Who is a drama, unlike a live feed event such as a World Cup football match or a royal wedding, but because we had to deliver the episode in advance to the four corners of the world so that it could be dubbed and subtitled into 15 different languages.

If there was any doubt that Doctor Who is one of the world’s biggest TV shows, this award should put that argument to rest – and how fitting for it to receive such an accolade in its 50th year.

In celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who Guinness Word Records has also compiled a list of the programme’s other achievements.

Thanks to the Doctor Who News Page

A BBC image of the eleven Doctors released last month has been updated to include the John Hurt version of the Doctor between the Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston incarnations.

[singlepic id=648 w=633 h=376 float=left]

[singlepic id=647 w=633 h=377 float=left]

The Day of the Doctor was watched by 10.2 million viewers in the UK according to unofficial overnight figures.

The 50th Anniversary adventure achieved an audience share of 37.4% of the total television audience, beating ITV’s The X Factor, which had 7.7 million watching.

Doctor Who was the second most-watched show of the day, with Strictly Come Dancing just edging into first place with 10.6 million viewers. ITV’s other big hitter, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, came in at number 4 with 9.2 million watching. 5th for the day was a special Doctor Who-themed edition of Pointless Celebrities which had 5.0 million viewers.

Doctor Who is currently the third most-watched programme for the week.

The figures include those who watched the show live on BBC One, or who recorded it and watched it before 2am. They do not include those watching on iPlayer or at any of the multiple cinema showings.

Final official figures will be released next week.

Thanks to the Doctor Who News Page

BBC America have released some exclusive behind-the-scenes videos from the making of The Day of the Doctor.

Today five incarnations of The Doctor were reunited at the Official Doctor Who 50th Celebration event at the ExCel Centre in London.  Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Matt Smith came together to mark the show’s 50th anniversary.

Doctor Who celebrates it’s 50th Anniversary today – so wherever you are and however you plan to celebrate the Time Lord’s big day, we hope you all have a very Happy Anniversary!

The Day of the Doctor airs tonight at 7.50pm on BBC One and simulcast around the world.

[singlepic id=400 w=633 h=433 left=]

Thanks to Sydney Newman (BBC Head of Drama), Verity Lambert (Producer), Mervyn Pinfield (Associate Producer), Waris Hussein (Director), David Whitaker (Story Editor), Anthony Coburn (Writer), CE Webber (Writer), Barry Newbery (Designer), Peter Brachacki (Designer), Ron Grainer (Title Music), Delia Derbyshire (Arranger), Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds), William Hartnell (The Doctor), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), and William Russell (Ian Chesterton).