Season 8 continued to perform strongly in the ratings, so the move to the show's latest ever time slot appears to have not made a difference on how many people watch.

But when season 9 airs in autumn 2015, what would be your preferred start time for the show and why?

For the majority of the run, I was unavailable between 6 and 8, so the later starts suited me down to the ground on this occasion.

I suspect most people will prefer an earlier start, however. Before SCD for part of the run dependant on when it airs. Although it may not be available, I'll still say between 7pm-8pm. Also takes us out of ITV's way.

Rather have it after 8 so it does not clash with the late sky match. I record it anyway so not really fussed but at least I can watch it live after 8 which I finally managed for the finale.

For me a slot between 7pm-8pm seems to have more gravitas. But I got used to the post-8pm slot very quickly.

There should be a don't care option for those of us who watch it at another time.

I hated it it when it was on at ridiculously early times such as 6:00pm or even 5:30pm, but so long as it airs after 7:00pm I don't really mind.

7pm is decent. I often go out for meals with friends on Saturday evenings and can excuse my lateness to 8pm if it's on at 7pm. This year, with 8:30pm starts I missed a few I had to catch-up on. Not the end of the world of course, but that'd be a preference. I don't necessarily mind later than 8pm, and yes the kids are still up at that time. Earlier than 7pm though is a bit ridiculous... especially if it's still sunny outside... it takes you out of it a little bit (some episodes of Series 7 I could barely see on the screen with the sun shining in through the curtains as it was!).

In my day (1960's - 70's) used to be right at around 5pm - 6pm.
Nowadays I would say 7pm - 8pm. That's family time!!

I like between 8pm-9pm because it's normally a time when whatever is going on in the day is done and your settled down and free to watch it live which is not always the case for the 7-8pm slot for me.

The 6-7pm slot is the worst in my opinion. Regardless of what some say about it not mattering when it is on because they don't watch it live, it still does because where any channel puts a show in there schedule reflects the confidence they have in it. If the bbc started playing it at 3am on a sunday morning, it would reflect that they at least believed something had gone wrong with the show and it wasn't deserving of a credible slot. Similarly the fact they choose to continue to show it prime time on a saturday night show's they still have the confidence in it now that they did in 2005. The reason I say 6-7 is the worst though is because even though pretty much all of saturday evening is classed as prime time, the actual main prime time for any day tends to be between 8-10pm so to me, putting it on about 8 and using strictly as a lead in to it, is the bbc saying they have ever growing respect for the show. The 7-8pm slot is still pretty good on a saturday, but with the 6-7pm slot I feel that says there almost shunting it out of the way early for the supposedly more important stuff later on, which is why I'm glad they don't seemed to have used that slot as much as the others over the years.

A later time should give us more scares and thrills and more intelligent storylines.

RTD's Dr Who was really dumbed down. Thank Goodness SM has tried to make the show more adult and sophisticated.

I almost wonder if this statement is said sarcastically, as I feel exactly the opposite about the 2 era's. Sophisticated is having stories that make sense, stories that have a beginning, middle and end with all the important story details covered, and Characters whom you actually care about, and I feel the RTD era consistently covered all these points whereas Moffat's era often fails on all of these counts because he is far more interested in the next publicity generating gimmick/mystery than writing well rounded stories.

It annoyed me that it always clashed with X Factor. It needs to be on before Strictly, not after.

I'm afraid your interpretation is somewhat vague. For example, The Gruffalo is a story that makes sense, has a beginning, a middle and an end with all the important story details covered, and is a much-loved story, and yet no-one would describe it as 'sophisticated'. Alternatively, a story with characters that disagree and make mistakes, in a story with a cold open, or an ambiguous ending, or require multiple watchings, could slot comfortably into a 'sophisticated' story.

RTD rarely deviated from standard story structure. It was easy to follow, but rarely innovative.

Thinking the same. With so many different ways to watch it now and a large percentage of viewing figures coming from these alternate sources, maybe a 'doesn't matter' (as we watch it via Catch-up/iPlayer/BBC 3, etc, etc) is a relevant viewing choice.

As long as it's dark outside, it's all fine.

I think RTD simply understood good telly. He came from the 'Buffy' school of writing - fun characters, good stories and a light-touch mystery that came to fruition at the end of each season. With season 8, it feels like we've come full circle!