The draft cover artwork for the DVD release of Series 5, Volume 3 has been released.

The disc will contain the episodes Amy’s Choice, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and will be available to purchase at the RRP of £15.99 from August 2nd 2010. Its simultaneous Blu-ray release has an RRP of £19.99.

You can see its DVD sleeve below, but please bear in mind that the artwork is subject to change.

Volume 1, featuring the first 3 episodes, is available on DVD/Blu-ray now.

BARB have today released the final ratings for Series 5 Episode 8, Chris Chibnall’s The Hungry Earth.

An official audience of 6.49million tuned in, with 6.01million watching on BBC One, and an additional 0.48million enjoying the episode in High-Definition. With just over 30% of the total viewing audience, Doctor Who was the 19th most watched programme on British television that week. The most watched was Britain’s Got Talent (ITV1/HD), which achieved an audience of 10.68m.

The BBC have today issued nine new episode stills taken from this Saturday’s story, Cold Blood.

In part two of Chris Chibnall’s Silurian adventure, the Doctor faces his most difficult challenge yet, when he finds himself caught up in a battle in which he can’t take sides, as Earth face the dawn of a new age of harmony - or the start of its final war…

Cold Blood airs this Saturday at 19:00 on BBC1/HD.

Keep up to date with the latest episode news by clicking here.

Did you enjoy The Hungry Earth? Have your say in our Episode 8 discussion.

As Series 5 continues with force, and the release of its first DVD/Blu-ray of episodes fast approaches, online retailers are now taking in pre-orders for Volumes 2 and 3!

Volume 2, which will be released on 5th July 2010, features The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice, while the third volume, out 2nd August, includes Amy’s Choice, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood. Please bear in mind that the BBC Shop are currently only listing the DVD releases of both volumes.

We’ll keep you updated with the latest and bring you the covers as soon as we get them.

The sun was shining across the UK throughout yesterday, which unfortunately resulted in Doctor Who falling to its lowest overnight figure yet, as 4.5million tuned in for The Hungry Earth.

With 4.24million watching on BBC1, and an additional 0.30million in HD, Episode 8 had a 32.2% share of the total audience. It’s not all bad news though, as it’s worth nothing there were only 13million watching TV overall, so the figure is still fairly impressive when that is taken into account!

Doctor Who was the 5th most watched programme of the day, behind The National Lottery, Casualty and the two episodes of Over the Rainbow. Meanwhile, Doctor Who Confidential was watched by 0.28million on BBC3. Final figures will be released soon.

Did you enjoy The Hungry Earth? Have your say in our Episode 8 discussion.

The most ambitious drilling project in history has reached deeper beneath the Earth’s crust than man has ever gone before - but now the ground itself is fighting back. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in a tiny mining village and find themselves plunged into a battle against a deadly danger from a bygone age.

So, there we have it – the end credits roll on another brand new adventure, which means it’s time to set your brains to ‘discuss’ and let us know what you thought of it!

In tonight’s long-awaited episode, penned by Chris Chibnall, we witnessed the return of the cold-blooded creatures known as the Silurians, who first appeared in the series in 1970. It was another blast from the past for the Doctor, but the resurrection of the reptile-like Earth-dwellers meant very bad news for the human race in the wake of history’s most ambitious drilling project, which ended up breaking more than just world records!

After the trials and tribulations faced by Amy and Rory last week, a nice break in Rio was just what the Doctor ordered, but unfortunately the TARDIS had other ideas, and our time travelling trio found themselves in a not-so-exotic mining village in the middle of Wales instead, where, naturally, there was great, great danger afoot. It wasn’t long before our heroes were thrown head first into battle with with an evil from a bygone age, and, this time, even the very ground beneath their feet can’t be trusted…

What did you make of The Hungry Earth? Was it groundbreaking from start to finish, or was it a crumbling chasm of chaos? Share your thoughts by posting a comment on this article, and you can also rate the episode out of 5 and vote in our poll on the homepage.

The story concludes next week in Cold Blood – what are you hopes for its resolution?

It’s that time of week again, and later today the Doctor, Amy and Rory will come face to face with the Silurians, who classic series fans will recognise from their original 1970 Third Doctor adventure!

As with all the foes that have returned since 2005, the Earth-dwelling reptilians have been given a 21st century makeover, and our heroes will tonight be thrown into battle when history’s most ambitious drilling project reaches deeper beneath the Earth’s crust than ever before…

In the first instalment of our second two-parter of the year, it’ll be a fight to the death for the time travelling trio, as the ground itself begins to fight back. Tune in at 18:15 on BBC1/HD, and join us here after you’ve watched it, at 19:00, to leave your own monster mark in our live discussion for the episode!

In the mean time, you can share your hopes for the story below! Via this link you’ll find 10 spoiler-free teasers, courtesy of SFX, and there’s another 10 over at DigitalSpy.

This is London have posted a new interview with Karen Gillan, in which she responds to the controversy sparked by Amy’s suggestive remarks to the Doctor in Flesh and Stone.

“I read the complaints, but I don’t see that it’s very bad at all,” she admitted. “The Doctor isn’t reciprocating, so it’s not inappropriate. We’re not sending out bad messages.”

The actress also comments on how her character would respond had they taken their relationship to the next level.

“Amy would take that in her stride,” she said. ‘In the morning she would probably have been back to being his sister.”

Doctor Who continues tomorrow night on BBC1/HD 18:15 with The Hungry Earth.

Meera Syal appeared on This Morning earlier today to discuss her role as Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry in the Silurians two-parter, which kicks off tomorrow night on BBC1/HD at 18:15 with The Hungry Earth.

If you missed it, you can catch up with what the actress had to say about her character and how she got the part here.

The official Doctor Who website has today posted a new BBC Wales preview of The Hungry Earth!

The episode, written by Chris Chibnall, airs tomorrow night at 18:15 on BBC1/HD, and is the first part of the long-awaited Silurians two-parter. In 2015, the most ambitious drilling project in history reaches deeper beneath the Earth than man has ever gone before, but when the Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive, they are drawn into battle with an evil from a bygone age. It’s nearly Saturday, folks!