I would love to see it moved back to it's old slot between April-July. I yearn for the days when I could get back from a lovely summers day and sit down and watch Who.

However, in order to return to that slot, it would mean that Series 9 and 10 would have to be filmed on a non-stop block, which I'm not sure the cast and crew would be entirely happy about.

Or, more likely, another 18 months gap!

Yes indeed. And have no desire for that to happen.

Not even if Moffat tells you you're getting more Doctor Who than ever during that 18-month break, and proves it by showing you a report in triplicate with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums?

I wish the show could go back to Spring instead of Autumn. So much better placed.

But that's my opinion.

I much prefer 7.15 or 7.30 but that's just me. It's still the only thing I make the effort to watch live on a Saturday night, otherwise the TV doesn't go on as I don't watch all the dancing, game, antique, food or reality shows that are swamping TV as I'm just not interested. They seem to be very popular but just because you want to watch more than one of them that doesn't mean you can't catch up with one or the other later, which is what people seem to be doing.
So what's the problem...

That's what was in chalk on the blackboards

Yep, it's almost worth reading the article for the hilarity of that one statement.

Actually Danny Cohen himself (Director of BBC TV for those who may not know) has said that they are are extremely happy with Doctor's Who's live performance against The X-Factor, and are delighted with the way the audience has held up.

As others have mentioned up thread, when you look at how Atlantis is doing in the same slot, with their live audience down to 3.5 million, more than a million lower than the absolute lowest of DW Series 8, it puts it into perspective.

Besides which, the BARB final figures for Doctor Who S8, with an average audience of 7.37 million (as quoted in the Mirror article even) is only 1 per cent down on Series 7. so can't under any sane meaning of the term be regarded as a flop. The whole Mirror piece is just clickbait, and the headline is totally misleading.

You guys do realise that would mean moving Series 9 back to Spring 2016, rather than forward to Spring 2015, don't you?

Series 9 hasn't even started filming yet, so there's virtually no chance it would be ready for the Spring.

I will say, though, agree 100%. I loved the spring/summer schedule for the show. I liked the fact we had a decent show on TV during a period when (to be honest) there's typically not much on worth watching for months on end.

It also felt well spaced; a 13 episode season and then, six months later, the Christmas episode and then - just three months after that - a new season would begin.

I grew up with Doctor Who - all year round (well about 10 months). So seeing it for 13 weeks a year is quite pleasant now! I don't care when it's shown - although I prefer the Spring-Summer idea (as in 2005 etc). We all watch it when we want to watch it anyway - as in PVR's etc....so what's the problem?? There are lots of classic DVD's to watch as well in the gaps and a few TV Channels show repeats of DW all the time! It's never really off our screens!

The key things in the article are these:

1. overall there was an average of 7.37million viewers for each episode, 80,000 less than last year

2. the figures showed a rise of 39% in viewers who recorded the show to watch it later – and an average of 1.6 million had requested to view episodes on BBC iPlayer.


I have stopped watching the show and I know a number of others who have stopped, but the stats would suggest that overall viewing figs are stable.

No news here.

You're missing the point. If so many people are timeshifting and fewer people are watching live, it raises the question of whether Doctor Who is occupying a slot that would be better served by another show.

If so many people timeshift, what's the problem putting on at 6pm when fewer people are watching anyway, more kids are around to watch live, and it makes no difference to people series-linking it?

BBC controllers are hardly going to make public statements that they're unhappy with anything. BBC1 can't be too happy about getting such a huge audience for Strictly and then doing little in the way of retaining it as soon as the end credits roll. In the olden days, Doctor Who and Strictly brought in big audiences for the night.

Like what, though? What else could they possibly put on in that slot that stands a chance against X-Factor? It seems to me that you're the one who is missing the point. They put Doctor Who in that slot not to grow the audience for Doctor Who but because DW is the only Saturday night show they have which stands a chance of keeping a decent number of viewers watching BBC once X-Factor starts. That's what they trusted that DW, with its loyal and committed audience, would be able to do, and it did it at least as well as they expected it would. Again, just look at how much worse its replacement is doing in that slot.

I used to worry about this too. In fact, I was regularly right here on DS making the same point. I was particularly concerned when Doctor Who was occupying its earlier slot - and was acting as the 'gateway' to Saturday night TV on BBC1.

It was during that period when the overnights began to reduce as more people watched the show on catch-up. I wondered how Doctor Who could keep such a prime slot if it was no longer attracting 7m+ viewers on the night.

But the truth is that, even taking the overnights in isolation, 5m viewers still make it the third most watched show every Saturday evening. And the catch up figures make it one of the most watched each week.

I am far less concerned about it all now. The BBC is happy with it too. They know its one of their biggest shows and they known it is still a success.

It wasn't even a ratings flop

I can't believe that people really want to watch 'Strictly' its so dull.
I also can't believe that any programming executive would favour it over Dr Who.

Hopefully X factor and Strictly will soon die a death.

Oh Isambard, I do wish people were listening to what you're writing because it's very, very, very, sensible and very, very, very, bang on the money.

The problem with trying to be logical with something as emotive as Doctor Who's ratings in a Doctor Who sub-forum is you can't yell loud enough to get through the fingers in ears.

Cue blah blah overnights don't matter, timeshifting is the future...

The autumn experiment has clearly failed (though I'd actually peg the drop off in overnights at the door of the split season. Season 5 did exceptionally well).

Whatever Moffat may pretend otherwise, overnights are still massively important internally at the Beeb. They're circulated daily, show the water cooler effect, the "gotta go out of my way to watch this!!" momentum and are routinely used to justify budgets.

the beeb with its 'justify our existence' complex and the 99.9% of its other shows that aren't Doctor Who and don't timeshift to such a large degree, even more so.

Why? Because poor overnights means poor retention (as isambard mentions) and that means less cushy scheduling. Since most people now watch Doctor Who when they can be bothered, it matters less when it's scheduled. So, if it's back for the Autumn in 2015, expect to see the show put in more vs "big draw on other side" slot.

Incidentally, we should count ourselves lucky. If Doctor Who wasn't such a barnstorming huge commercial success the loss of prime spot appeal would typically result/cause a show to get a cut in its budgeting/marketing.

I think you'll find the Director of BBC Television is pretending, too.

I don't think so.

Yes, I'm sure the BBC are thrilled with the viewing figures Atlantis is scraping in the same slot. Definitely a great idea to move Doctor Who and put something else in its place. I don't think!

When Peter Davison came in the series played out January through to Spring. Apart from the weekday slot, what's to stop the BBC going for a similar run, Jan-March on a Saturday? No Strictly, No XFactor...

(Fingers in ears. La la la la)

The ratings are remarkably consistent and the BBC are perfectly pleased with the performance of the show.

I actually believe that! Not that I'm privy to any inside info. They wont let me into the meetings and don't respond to my e-mails. Maybe I've been duped?

Not just you... I preferred it too! New series beginning around Easter Saturday and running through to May/June, then the Christmas special with a trailer for the upcoming series at the end. Was good.