On Friday, Russell T Davies, Executive Produducer, writer and re-inventor of Doctor Who collected his OBE from Buckingham Palace. The award, for Services to Drama, was presented to him by HRH The Prince of Wales. He told BBC News after receiving the award “Writers are the lifeblood of a lot of stuff that gets made… so I was really honoured to accept it on behalf of everyone slaving away at keyboards.”

Incidentally, it was Prince Charles who Russell referred to as ‘a miserable swine’ for turning down the offer to appear in the series; although a statement issued later from Clarence House said that the prince hadn’t even seen the offer as it was turned down on his behalf.

The countdown has begun for the Christmas Special - The Other Doctor. As in previous years, the BBC website has an advent calendar, each door leading to a video clip, photos, downloads and other sneak preview material for the Christmas Special.

Go to the official BBC Doctor Who website to see what’s behind the first door…