Blimey! That'll be exciting

Only popping in while I'm at my parents', and the Who chat has made it seem very much like Christmas. Neither I nor my mother found the episode at all confusing and I think suggesting it is does a major disservice to the audience, if they can sit through Game Of Thrones and hundreds of hours of Lord of the Rings films, I don't know how Who can cause that much confusion. It does help if you're not bloody tweeting and posting all the way through it.

My mum really liked it and my dad stayed awake for at least five minutes, which by his standards is praise indeed,

As for the ratings, I think "lowest rating for a new Doctor since 2005" is a bit of a daft comment. Before this there's been three, one of which was the first episode for a decade and hence bloody big news and one of which was on Christmas Day. So those are hardly fair comparisons with something going out on a Bank Holiday weekend, especially the August Bank Holiday weekend.

And I think there is something in the fact it was on late as well, certainly the show has never gone past the watershed before and I would suspect the child audience is most likely to watch live. So it may well be the case that many kids weren't counted and will watch it on a recording. It's like Christmas Day 1977 all over again, Mike Yarwood got higher ratings than Morecambe and Wise, because Yarwood was on before the watershed.

And my mum, sixty this week, knows exactly who Simon Webbe and Mark Wright are. I loved that comment about how a seventy year old would get excited about Wright getting his guns out, I think that's exactly right. And I don't know how you can take issue with SCD celebrities when Chris Hollns and Tom Chambers have won it, and they're hardly in The Ivy every night.

i think they should make do with repeats of taggart, take the high road, scottish country dancing and the highland games. lovely.

Good decision.

The X Factor skews very young - having acts like Christopher Maloney top the vote for seven weeks running and making it to the final over acts like Ella Henderson (who's had one of the best selling singles of the year) ruins any credibility the show had left with the younger demographics. People won't remain interested if their favourite acts are kicked out early on.

they are more likely to watch strictly then get tucked up in bed with a cup of horlicks.

That demo breakdown for Pointless Celebs does re-enforce my suggestion that it does skew older (as does much of BBC1's daytime) than The Chase and therefore holds up better during the Summer.

Given the lack-lustre line-up for Strictly I assume we won't be having the same debate when IAC arrives.

IAC like Big Brother thrives on personalities. Strictly I would say is better and easier to get the bigger names given celebs are more likely to accept to dancing on TV than being in a Jungle surrounded by bugs.

Oh H, believe me, it won't be the zelebrities on IAC that will be lacklustre, but the programme itself! Of course I will make a dig at IAC, but only because I love you!

I didn't expect anything different

I thinks that a perfect reply. The amount of daftness posted on here in the last couple of days about DW has been incredible.

Given that the anti SCD brigade have been having the discussion it will only be fair to reciprocate when IAC arrives as you put it.

Smart move from 5 to throw on a couple of Gary Busey after Celeb BB tonight - could see a decent audience.

Speaking of movies on 5 - was surprised to see A Cinderella Story on the channel this afternoon. I thought that was an ITV 2 staplepiece?!

Absolutely. It would be rude not to.

Just to make it clear - I have no issue with SCD. I just think the lineup looks pretty naff so far!

i hope itv 3 show something decent in the autumn, after dr who there will be nothing worth watching. can't abide scd or txf. loathe them both!!!! i will stick with dad's army on bbc2.

I'll second that - is just another sign of how banal this thread has become. People rush to post without thinking. Then seen to know a remarkable degree of granularity about the reason behind the ratings to support their arguments.

Just look at the number of people who misread the TVRatings tweet and then commented as if the 2012 launch figure was this years overnights!

The truth about the DW rating is that the overnight is OK. Highest rated show of the night, best launch since 2010 and over 30% share. Not stellar ratings but OK.

One day I hope we will get back to real informed discussion about ratings and not someone's guess based on a moments thought. Probably wishful thinking on my part.

Revenue from the licence fee in Scotland would not support all the BBC services now available in Scotland as the BBC has said more than once.

Do we know when we get our first round of updated figures for Who?

Non fans of "Doctor Who" may have to wait for another show runner and new Doctor and regeneration before they are allowed into the show, it must have been hard for any new viewer to keep their interest.

Not sure whether we should see low ratings for last night because of bank holiday? I can't remember whether Sundays the day before BH is rated low or normal?

It's not a bank holiday today in Scotland,theirs was on August 4

I do agree. I remember in the the earlier years of the reboot I could be a casual viewer, and whilst there were story arcs, you could generally dip in and out at your own leisure.

On Saturday I did feel quite excluded as a casual viewer. I didn't know if these aliens were new characters or if they had previous history with the show. At fhe start of the episode I was optimistic: a new doctor and new titles made the show seem fresh and a good time to get back into the show, but it seemed to be aimed more towards the 'DW club' with Moffat determined to make the show as intricate and abstract as can be. Of course you don't deny the show of it's rich 50 year history, but don't be so arrogant as to assume you don't need to include those who are out of the DW loop.

F1: Belgian Grand Prix: 2.91m
=> BBC One: 2.44m (26.4%)
=> Sky Sports F1: 475k (5.2%)
=> lowest figure for a European round since 2008

BBC News: 3.28m (21.0%)
BBC Regional News: 3.92m (24.6%)
Nature's Miracle Orphans: 3.73m (21.9%)
Countryfile: 4.71m (23.7%)
The Village: 3.52m (17.6%)
BBC News: 5.10m (28.7%)
BBC Regional News: 4.98m (30.3%)
Match of the Day 2: 2.56m (20.4%)

Did the story require you to know though?

BBC News tops the night. The Village will defiantly not be returning, its a sitting duck now waiting for competition to kill it completely.

BBC Sunday stronghold should change next week depending on how well Saturday's XF does. I hope XF boosts the final episode of The Great War at least over 2.5m