EastEnders: 5.75m (31.0%)
Emmerdale (7pm): 4.97m (30.4%)
Emmerdale (8pm): 3.75m (19.1%)

Yes, but unfortunately the Ratings Thread will have "forgotten" that the next time ED runs across the EastEnders slot, and will be full of "ouch" and "eek" and "I wasn't expecting that to happen", "Couldn't have come at a worse time" etc.

Whereas today, the thread is quieter than it's been for weeks. It's like a ghost town.

What did the late schedule change of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom get ?

The final hour of it got 519k (2.8%). That's showing as Don't Tell the Bride on ITV Media's top 10 because of the late change.

This Digiguide update showing what we suspected. Doctor Who at around 7.45pm and The X Factor back August 30th.

Saturday 23rd August
BBC1
5:20-News
5:40-Celebrity Pointless
6:30-Tumble
7:50-Doctor Who
9:10-Casualty
10:00-Lottery Draws
10:10-News
10:30-Match of the day

ITV
6:45-You've Been Framed (Repeat)
7:45-Tipping Point
8:45-All Star Family Fortunes (Repeat)
9:45-Star Wars episode 6
10:45-News
11:00-Star Wars episode 6 continued

The latest slot "Doctor Who" has been given in a while. Darker in tone and longer scenes, perhaps a different feel to "Doctor Who" this time around.

Like the timeslot. Don't like it facing "The X Factor" I'm rooting for "Tumble" to give it a good lead in.

Wow, the new Doctor is in for a big opening rating with that competition.

Exactly. Great post.

Yeah, barring a heatwave, there is really no excuse for a bad Doctor Who number that night, really.

I really hope they aren't getting their hopes up. No hype at all.

I reckon 9 million will watch. Capaldi is determined to be his own man as the Doctor and move on from the last two Doctors. I think a darker and older Doctor will win back fans who thought Smith was too wacky and juvenile. Smith might have been pleased with his last two, admittedly good, episodes, but the previous two series were patchy and often stupid, with overnights falling to 5 million at times.

digiguide showing another hour long Emmerdale on Tues 26th ??

So that's two non-Christmas episodes of Doctor Who in a row which have set new records for the reborn show's longest running time. Wonder if that trend will continue into the Christmas episode which looks to tie up a major cliffhanger from the end of the main series this year as opposed to just being some standalone fun in the snow. Especially as there could very possibly not be a Christmas episode in 2015.

The only question is whether it stays there or moves to Wednesday with CS at 8pm.

Maybe in the finals but not more than 8-8.5m on the night I shouldn't think, not in the summer when it's had nowhere near the promotional push of the 50th which got 10m in late-Autumn.

The series 8 premiere will start at exactly the same time as the 50th-anniversary special last November, which garnered 10.2m (37.4%) overnight versus The X Factor (7.3m/7.7m with +1). The total TV audience during Who's slot was 27.3m (including same-day timeshift).

To get 9m a fortnight on Saturday (nine months later to the day), Who will need a 45% share if the total TV audience is 20m, or roughly 41% if it's 22m. Either is achievable with the poor ITV opposition, I'd have thought.
Last edited by NeilVW : 08-08-2014 at 19:04

Doctor Who's opening episode will definitely be the highest rated of the series. With the timeslot and competition a big number should be possible. It is always best to start later in the evening in Summer when it comes to ratings.

But after that, as Johnny points out, it faces The X Factor for the rest of its run. And not the creaking X Factor of last year but one with Simon and Cheryl and a revamp. That will keep Doctor Who's ratings down. That might also keep X Factor down as well on Saturdays until Doctor Who ends.

It will be an exciting few weeks in the ratings thread that's for sure.

BBC1 or The Guardian getting their hopes up?

Doctor Who sounds like a better watch then X Factor, I like the idea of a darker doctor myself.

I think with all of the promotion and competition 9m would be disappointing. Really wouldn't be surprised to see it higher. Remember too that for event episodes Doctor Who has a knack of bringing in more viewers generally to the evening. Plus it is getting darker earlier each day. I think that will all help boost figures.

I was slightly surprised to see that The Times was very enthusiastic in its preview of the first episode and hoped Capaldi would have a long tenure.

The problem may be if the newspaper critics love it the general public might not. In the past I seem to remember a few critical pastings for episodes (especially the specials) while the ratings went through the roof. I never think critics know what the audience wants.

The last non-standalone episode of DW got an overnight rating of 5.4m, the last episode that wasn't standalone or a season finale got 4.7m. A rating of 8-9m is already bringing in a shedload of extra viewers compared to the show's recent levels, never mind any more on top.

The last 'new Doctor' episode got an overnight of 8m, that's the benchmark.

All the common people who've seen the leaked first episode have reported back positively too.

Very few newspaper TV critics have ever worked in the medium or have any comprehension of how a programme is produced. Last year the Daily Mirror TV critic praised the BBC for making Downton Abbey

It's nice when crtics like a show, the only critics that matter are the viewers. Some critics don't have time for it. Kevin O'Sullivan will never like it, but it didn't matter.

Doctor Who has been getting blanket promotion. It's not just any old standalone episode, we have a new Doctor, the boat is being pushed out on promotion, it is getting treatment like the 50th with cinema screenings. It also has a plum timeslot. This is an event episode and I would be stunned if it wasn't higher than 9m in the overnights.