The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary special of the BBC show, has been crowned the Radio Times Audience Award winner at the 2014 Arqiva British Academy Television Awards.
The only award at the TV Baftas decided by the public, the Audience Award was voted for by tens of thousands of people on RadioTimes.com during April and early May. In a keenly fought race, the Doctor Who special, written by showrunner Steven Moffat, saw off stiff competition for the prize in the shape of Broadchurch, Breaking Bad, Gogglebox, Educating Yorkshire and The Great British Bake Off.
The Day of the Doctor aired on 23 November 2013, exactly 50 years after the first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child starring William Hartnell, was screened and introduced the Time Lord and Tardis to the world for the very first time.
Broadcast simultaneously to 94 countries across the globe in both 2D and 3D, the 75-minute episode was the television event of 2013. Starring Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, the episode saw the return of former Tardis incumbents David Tennant and Billie Piper, as well as a featuring role for legendary veteran British actor John Hurt as the War Doctor. With a cameo from incoming incarnation of the Time Lord Peter Capaldi and a glimpse of former Tardis favourite Tom Baker, the episode was without doubt one of the most spectacular chapters in the show’s long and illustrious history.
Described as “a love letter to fans”, The Day of the Doctor attracted 12.8 million viewers on British television, with a further 2.4 million watching the US simulcast on BBC America – breaking the channel’s all-time record. The show also took the record for the most requested programme on the BBC’s iPlayer, enjoying almost 3 million streams before the end of 2013.
There were big numbers for the anniversary special in the cinema too, with cinema takings of over £1.7 million in the UK pushing Doctor Who to number three in the UK cinema box office in the week of airing, and the show pulling in more than $10 million across the world in movie theatres.
The Day of the Doctor is the second Radio Times Audience Award winner. The 2013 award was won by HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones, shown in the UK on Sky Atlantic.
The Doctor Who star played high-class hooker Belle de Jour in the hit show, and she is set to strip off on screen again in her new series, Penny Dreadful, co-starring Josh Hartnett.
However, despite accepting a string of sexy roles, Piper is adamant she would prefer to stay fully clothed on set.
She tells The Sun newspaper, “I’d rather not do sex scenes but I’m always interested in characters with wild spirits so I think sex scenes are inevitable.”
Piper also reveals she was the envy of all her female pals after signing up to star alongside Pear Harbour hunk Hartnett, adding, “Do I fancy Josh? I did when I was younger… He’s totally gorgeous – I had a lot of jealous girlfriends.”
Penny Dreadful, which also stars Timothy Dalton and Eva Green, is a horror series produced by Sam Mendes and inspired by lurid 19th century weekly publications.
We’ve added some stunning new stills of Billie alongside Josh Hartnett and Eva Green. Many thanks to Far Far Away!
Speaking at last night’s UK premiere of Penny Dreadful, Piper said the things she faces in the new Sky drama are much scarier than Doctor Who’s tank-like villains.
“As much as [Penny Dreadful] has all these supernatural elements [like Doctor Who] I think it’s largely about mortality,” said Piper, adding: “It’s about lots of people existing on the outskirts of society and becoming one and living with demons and darkness – and I think all of that is pretty scary. Far scarier than a Dalek!”
Billie Piper is talking about “special effects” and “action sequences” with all the enthusiasm you would expect from someone who has signed up to make a multimillion-pound TV series airing on both sides of the Atlantic. She can riff on the show’s main themes and the script – and we are just getting on to the point about the “dexterous text” when she says: “I’m sure this is all really boring. I play a prostitute. I’m just in it for the sex!”Piper has an excellent sense of humour: a mischievous giggle, a willingness to sacrifice her point for the sake of a good joke. It’s why she’s so brilliant on chat shows – the last time I saw her, on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man, she imitated a dance move popularised in the Channel 4 series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding for laughs. She also told of how she had recently found a “filthy nightclub” on a night off from looking after her sons, making me wonder if Billie Piper is still quite the wild child.
