30-minute show made its debut on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand. 15 September Channel 4 moves its long-running game show Countdown from 4:15pm to 3:15pm, something that leads to questions being asked in Parliament and the launch of petitions to have it rescheduled back to its old slot. 18 September – Peter Amory makes his final appearance as Chris Tate in Emmerdale after 14 years. 19 September – Channel 4 confirms that its breakfast show RI:SE will end in December, it was axed because of low ratings. 21 September – BBC One airs Perfectly Frank, an EastEnders spin-off episode featuring the character Frank Butcher establishing a nightclub in Somerset. 25 September – The Daily Telegraph newspaper is the first to announce the return of the popular sci-fi drama series Doctor Who after a 14-year break. It would return to television in March 2005. 27 September – EastEnders is aired for the last time on BBC America. The programme was axed because of poor ratings that were losing the channel most of its viewers. 29 September Den Watts makes his return to EastEnders in an episode watched by 16 million viewers. EastEnders also wins best soap at the Inside Soap Awards. October 2 October – ITV is given permission by the Independent Television Commission to move its 10pm news bulletin to 10:30pm. Since returning in 2001, News at Ten has aired on at least three nights a week, but analysts have noted that not having a fixed time for a weekday news bulletin is unsettling for viewers and advertisers. The ITC feels a regular news bulletin at 10:30pm will be in viewers interests. 4 October – Alex Parks wins the second series of Fame Academy. 5 October Coronation Street shows its first gay kiss. Psychological illusionist Derren Brown controversially plays Russian roulette live on Channel 4, though with a slight delay allegedly in case the stunt went wrong. The stunt is later revealed to have been a hoax. 6 October – After BBC America axed EastEnders due to "abysmal ratings", almost 9,000 people have signed a petition calling on the channel to reinstate the show, BBC News reports. 8 October – Delivering the Bafta Annual Lecture, ITV's head of programming, Nigel Pickard says that he is prepared to "bite the bullet" and drop poorly performing programmes and ageing presenters from its schedule, stating that "the days when you