I think a lot of it is some form of self delusion, and weird sense of self importance.
"Everybody listen to me!!!!!"
These posters ignore good sense, reason and awkward things like facts or the truth and post remarkably foolish comments like "The series is going down the pan!!! It's going to be cancelled for sure."
Never mind that they've just made it all up for a bit of attention; they post away and then some of us (myself included, dammit ) reply and these individuals get all the attention they so clearly want. Doh!!
Quite why they crave this sort of attention, full of heat and dissent and anger, so much is something I really don't understand.

Wise words from Minky - if these people want to shout that Doctor Who is being cancelled, when it plainly isn't, then so what? I doubt they'll go away even if they are ignored. But they might become the equivalents of the mad old lonely tramp on the park bench railing pointlessly and hopelessly against the world.

I did a review of viewing figuers a few years ago comparing all new Dr runs and old Dr programmes and viewing figures ranged in the 7-10million for all Drs i.e. no reduction are large increase in viewing figures for any Dr incarnation.

You can prove anything with facts!

Stewart Lee fan?

I guess Strictly...will boost the overnights (might be stating the blinking obvious there) and it will be interesting to get the statistics for bbc i-player. Last time I looked, 'Robot...' was top and the previous episodes were in the '20 most popular...'

9 years in, this is a marvellously consistant run of viewing figures. Imagine the panic if tinternet was about in 1969 when I believe there was quite a slump.

(Then again, Who apparently came close to cancellation then.)

B*gger,I've confused myself. Anyway, bottom line; the figures and overall 'reach' are perfectly fine I think, and that's just taking into account the UK.

They weren't plucked out of the air at random. I actually saw those mentioned on one website, at the beginning of the week. I forget which site it was, but nevertheless, I saw them.

Well, they were wrong.

Where did you see the figure of 4 million? It's completely wrong.

Evaluating sources of information is a key life skill. Anyone can write whatever they like on "some website". Not reliable.

Official viewing figures provided by the BARB, however, are going to be very reliable. Seeing as BARB is used by the actual broadcasters to monitor viewing figures.

I notice all these troll doom-and-gloom threads are started by people with a pitiful handful of posts to their name only.

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

You were saying...?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...r-who-triumphs

Acually Dr Who is probably one of teh only shows it can cancel and still make money from merchandise. This is how it carried on between 1989 and 2005. They have even stretched a whole year of 13 episodes over 2 years during Matt Smith's era.

If Casualty was cancelled then it would be different as its not as marketable as Dr Who. But Dr Who is a show that they can cancel and come back at any time they like and not upset the fans as much.

Series 8 may have been a triumph, but just you wait.... Series 9 will be a disaster. Before it has even aired, probably.

No Doctor Who isn't getting cancelled anytime soon, it's too much of a money spinner.

As for the constant viewing figure argument though, I am sensing a yawn fest with this latest series.
What I mean is, people who I talk to have developed a couldn't care less attitude to Doctor Who, whereas before it was unmissable television.
I'm not talking about forums or the internet at all, it's just general family, friends and acquaintances. There are various reasons, some say they don't like Capaldi. Others say the episodes aren't up to much and not as exciting as it once was.
Whatever the reasons, some will watch it if it's on, but they won't go out their way to see the latest episode.

Yes you could say, why bother when i-player etc exists and there is no point to watching live anymore. However, you could say the same when Matt Smith was The Doctor, and it was considered unmissable then.

I know the viewing figures say that there's nothing to worry about and it's getting good ratings etc etc etc, but I don't know I believe something is amiss.

Personally, I haven't found this series engaging at all. Only a couple of episodes would I consider watching again and that's nothing to do with Capaldi as I think he's a brilliant choice. Better than Matt Smith in lots of ways. I am of the opinion that the final was a let down for many, including myself. I realise lots on here enjoyed it, but for me it lacked the payoff that other finales had. There was no mystery. We all knew who Missy was and many didn't agree with a female Master anyway.

There were also quite a few complaints about the two parter. I for one made a complaint to the BBC and Ofcom as I believed they crossed the line. My reasons I have stated elsewhere on here, no point going through them again. I am just waiting for their response, but I know others that were also offended and hurt by certain scenes.
I know writers like to push boundaries sometimes, but some you shouldn't cross and I don't apologise for saying so.

All in all, I was really disappointed in this series and hope for much, much better when series nine comes along. The Christmas special though doesn't inspire me with confidence. We shall see. Hope im wrong and it's a return to form.

The problem with the show making money, and I'm referencing the merchandise here, is that the stories could start to revolve around perceived sales of character's or monsters suitability for merchadise.

Totally agree with snakecharmers statement. I am a stanch who fan and would never miss an episode but wasn't really bothered about when I was going to watch it. I think the show needs new direction with more a more family oriented show with simpler plots and more behind the sofa moments. IMHO it's lost its edge and it's being written for us the fans where it should pander to the masses. It's not the actors faults both have been top class, by and large the scripts have been a letdown with ridiculous ideas. Moffat is a top WRITER but needs someone to rein in the ideas and show that a top writer doesn't make a top showrunner. But maybe I'm still living in the golden age of the seventies of no Iplayer and if you missed it you missed out.

I'm sorry, but this is totally subjective. "It was considered unmissable" during Matt Smith's era? Really? By whom? Just people you happen to know?

Speaking personally, I found most of Matt Smith's era utterly unwatchable and failed to connect with it, but found series 8 absolutely captivating from start to finish. Do I speak for everyone? No, of course not. But neither do you.

The bottom-line is that every Doctor will have fans and detractors, and every era of Who will get a mixed reaction; series 8 has proved to be just the same. But the show continues to do excellently in the ratings and critically is getting better reviews than it has for several years - so is something amiss? Or is it simply you don't enjoy it so much?

You may be on to something.

I notice that people still can't make up their mind over whether Doctor Who is a silly childish show which should be on CBBC or a show which is too dark and scary for children and should be made more child-friendly.

I notice that a lot of attention deprived individuals spend their plentiful time neigh saying popular programs, Best advice as always is DNFTT.

It's neither - it's a family show and can enjoyed on different levels by adults and children.

You're two for two.

I'm afraid I have to agree with the sentiment of these posts. Forums/internet chatter full of dedicated fans may say it is great/better than ever etc but back in the real world, I have friends/family who found it unmissable tv as I did back during David Tennants time, and still were watching during Matt smiths time now having lost all interest and stopped watching. I myself would always try to watch live and if I couldn't I'd be thinking about it all night until I finally got to watch it, leaving it till sunday was almost unthinkable, but lately I still watch it but don't really care when. I don't think that's anything to do with Capaldi, I think it's just the fact that things were slipping gradually more and more since Moffat started, and his enthusiasm for the next gimmick or headlining grabbing trick, rather than putting as much effort into coherence of plot or emotional resonance of characters has got to the point now where whilst there are good stories in series 8 I can't say there is a single great one, and that's the first time I've felt that way since the first 2005 series.

"Series 9 will be the final series."

For Moffat, I hope so. His shelf-life went bad about three Series ago. For Doctor Who, I seriously doubt it.

I've loved the show since 2005. I've loved each series, the better ones (S4) and the worse (S7) and no matter what ups and downs I've stuck by it. I post about it online, I've got t-shirts, the DVD's, the score... I'm a fan, guilty as charged. I've loved Series 8 as well for all of its ups and downs...Capaldi, Coleman, Gomez, some of the episodes...amazing stuff.

But there is a definite change in attitude, perhaps indifference, from much of the viewing public. The viewing figures are very good, consistent, and a good sign. But they're also a little safe. People that are watching the show out of no obligation to do so, but simply because it's just typical that their TV is on BBC 1 at that time of night and they don't mind it on. I was still in school during the RTD era, and my entire group of about 15 friends or so would all talk about it - I think there was one who didn't watch. Now there's only 3 of us who do, all of us sometimes on catch-up (that's life getting in the way admittedly), and a fourth friend who caught Deep Breath, and I quote "because it was on". She thought it was okay, but she didn't stick with it. She stopped regularly watching at Series 5, and missed nearly all of 7 and 8.

My small social life isn't necessarily a reflection of the complete picture, but I see it echoed all over the place. Of my two sisters, only one of them now watches - the other stopped because she was no longer interested in the way it was being written (back in Series 6). My next door neighbours have it on the TV, but were chatting with my Mum in the garden during nearly every episode at the start of Series 8...they won't have watched them on catch-up either.

I don't think opinion of the show is bad, but I think it's lost something of its captivating charm. It's going through the motions a little bit, even with Series 8 and is struggling to keep enticing all but the fans with any sense of certainty. Yes, opinion is generally positive, and the viewing figures are still good as well... but actual perception of the show isn't what it was. I mean, it's not reached a point of indifference where nobody is talking about it, but it's definitely become more fan-oriented to say the least in recent years. I felt that Series 8 worked hard to even the playing field a bit again and appeal to the mainstream a bit more (with exceptions like Listen) but the fact of the matter is it will struggle to do that when the problem for many has been the writing in recent years, and it's still relying largely on the same writers (and getting criticised still for doing so). Even with the new writers at its disposal, Series 8 packed them all in at the end of the series - any casual viewers giving the show a go again may have given up by then if the problem with the writing was most evident in the first half of the series.

I don't know what to suggest that could turn this perception around. Moffat has both impressed me this year with a couple of episodes, and let me down with his other couple - in ways that are very typical to him. Whilst I've enjoyed this series, and many more have as well... I just don't know whether people care like they used to.

It's funny how, for every series, there's a "sense that people don't care any more", and "I and all my friends think it's boring now", and "everything I've seen or heard tells me that this series hasn't been well received".

This has apparently been going on every year since at least Series 3, and yet every objective statistic measurement belies it.

This is due to changes in you and your friends and your lives. Nothing more, IMHO. Judging from your comments about being at school in the RTD era, you're at that age where real life things, i.e. social life and career, for most people, take centre stage and TV generally seems less important. The others you mention likely were never as engaged with TV as you were. And if you happen to dislike SM's direction for DW, that just reinforces your perception of how others view it.