Time-travelling sci-fi hero Doctor Who has beaten yet another rival - this time in the book publishing charts.
This year's Doctor Who annual has rocketed to the top of the sales countdown, beating the previously unbeatable Beano volume.
More than 270,000 volumes of the sci-fi spin-off have been sold at UK bookshops in the run-up to Christmas.
It is thought to be the first time the Beano, starring Dennis the Menace, has been outsold since the 1940s.
TOP 10 ANNUALS
The Bratz dolls annual is third in the list, compiled from sales in all UK bookshops and released by the Waterstones chain.
Doctor Who's sales have taken booksellers by surprise - a Waterstones spokeswoman told the BBC it only sold around 80,000 copies last year.
But the chain said it had benefited from its cross-generational appeal.
Children's buyer Sam Harrison said: "You have the new fans who watch the show from behind the sofa. You have the parents who watch old shows from behind the sofa themselves and buy the annual for their children, and you have all the hardcore Doctor Who fans."
The Beano annual has been a bookshop fixture at Christmas time for decades. It has topped sales figures since they were first compiled electronically in 1998, and it is thought it has dominated sales since soon after its debut in the 1940s.
Two of publisher DC Thomson's other annuals are doing well - the Dandy annual is eighth, having sold 76,886 copies, while a spin-off from Scottish strip Oor Wullie is ninth.
Other top-selling titles include football's Match annual, the Disney/Pixar annual, and Thomas the Tank Engine.
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