John Whittingdale likes Doctor Who. A lot. And has done for many years prior to its revival. Which is why the ranty attacks by RTD and Steven Moffat on the Tories are really NOT helping the BBC's case. As usual, you trap more flies with honey....

I completely agree with this post.

I don't like that ITV have put another travel factual series at 9pm. It does not need to be at this time. 8pm would be better against DIY SOS. I suspect against TA it will be another sub-2m series. Its presnted by Alexander Armstrong so another non ITV face. Will inevetably flop then.

Yes, and I should make a correction to what I said earlier - the data published so far is not from BARB homes but from broadcasters' web servers on an agreed industry-wide and audited basis. Stage 2 of "Project Dovetail" will use the BARB panel to add demographic information, and crucially to get the number of viewers rather than devices. The necessary gadgets are installed into a BARB home when it joins the panel - now 25% of BARB homes.


http://www.barb.co.uk/whats-next?_s=4

What about All Star Mr & Mrs, though? I take it you wouldn't do a simple swap and put that at 9pm, but shuffle something more substantial there?

On the Monday is England's Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania. Effectively a dead rubber from our point of view by my calculations, as England cannot fail to top Group E. I suppose a dead rubber when England are definitely through is slightly more enticing than one when England are definitely out, though.

I've watched the revived Doctor Who since 2005. I thought some of RTD's era was childish but when it was good it was very good. I think Moffat's era can be to complicated but when it's good it's very good.

The thing is RTD's version is very accessible and Tennant was a very popular Doctor across several demos. Matt Smith was also a popular Doctor look at some of his high ratings. Moffat made mistakes in series 5 with Amy's character and those big arse Teletubbies Daleks that we have strangely not seen ever again. But series 5 worked. From series 6 though stories and plots started to get complicated but I loved 11, Amy & Rory and when they left in 7A it all went to shit for me.

7B was an absolute mess, Clara had no real character to begin with she was just a mystery, an empty vessel that didn't act like a real person, all the Moffat Christmas specials have the same look (set mostly at night with lots of snow). It was getting boring.

Then we come to series 8 and Capaldi. What a struggle to get through. A bickering Doctor and companion. Did they learn nothing from the Colin Baker era? It doesn't feel fresh to me, it feels tired. I love Peter Capaldi but I don't love his Doctor, Clara will be known as the longest serving nu Who companion but that's her great claim to fame. I won't miss her. Most friends that loved Tennant, stuck around for Matt Smith but felt the stories were getting too convoluted. I couldn't disagree with them. Some are watching Capaldi but it isn't the exciting topic of conversation with friends anymore. The last time we all talked about was the 50th and Matt's regeneration.

What's surprising is that some of them are watching Capaldi and I'm not. If most of series 8 left me cold there was no point watching and getting angry or moaning about it. For those that still like Doctor Who I'm happy for you. I'm glad it's still being made but it's not fun for me anymore. I think the hardcore fans watch but the casual audience is drifting away.

If people think that the audience is the same size as it was in 2010/2011 but scattered over various devices then they are deluded. And if the BBC and the production team think that then they'll just watch the audience go and have to rush out more omnibuses and press releases about download figures.

Add all of the iPlayer/repeat/consolidated ratings together for this year and I reckon they will still be lower than most of last year's episodes. The audience aren't just going to other platforms. They're just going.

Whittingless is spineless beyond belief. If Osborne, Murdoch, the Telegraph or the Daily Heil tell him to say something, he'll do it, regardless of how little sense it actually makes (e.g. the BBC News At Ten drivel he spouted the other week).

The BBC's enemies don't want it to have anything remotely like DW and, sadly, as Jaycee Dove alludes to, there is a scenario where the Tories force the BBC to auction off its more popular titles and/or its archive 'to help reduce the deficit', i.e. help all the people who supported them get even richer. Whittingless won't fight that. He's too weak and Moffat and RTD are quite right to target him and the government he represents. He's a puppet and will just do as he's told - see the privatisation of Channel 4.

At this rate, Doctor Who will be back at the 17:10 slot within a few years or BBC Two it that is still around.

No second series for Partners In Crime

Source: Radio Times

I don't see how the Doctor's homeworld is classified as an esoteric reference today since it has informed so many of his character arcs going back to 2005. To suggest that a viewer wouldn't understand a character's emotions because they're informed by a storyline they didn't memorise one or two details of is deeply troubling.

Furthermore, I'm not sure Davros' introduction in 2008 was any more accessible than it was this year. From what I remember of that episode, the reveal is framed around Dalek Caan (a character who by design is indistinguishable from at least two other characters) and the Doctor saying "But you died in a made-up offscreen war event", whereas his introduction this year was framed entirely in terms of the Doctor as if to say 'this is what it takes to make him think twice about saving someone' in a keep-oneself-guessing way which is how this programme has always operated. I'm not saying it worked necessarily, just that there might have been more intended layers than 'remember him?'.

The notion of 'overcomplicated plot lines wearing viewers down' being the cause of the current situation lives and dies upon evidence of a gradual erosion of the week-to-week audience, similar to what we see with The X Factor and the endless crying of "It's so fake!" that surrounds it, but that hasn't happened with Doctor Who in the same way prior to this year. This suggests that either our social circles are more isolated than we think or that new viewers have come in who like overcomplicated plot lines. It seems improbable that such a large portion of the audience would have the exact same breaking point.

And yet the audience for Doctor Who globally outside of the UK is growing?

Thanks for replying to my post yesterday, I am just catching up and se you have had a debate about Dw today but I still cant say I agree with the general thrust.

You imply that the whole episode required an in depth knowledge of a 1970s episode and that is not true IMO. There was a 10 second clip of a former Doctor that was not important and even if that were removed the rest of the narrative was still perfectly understandable. But without discussing the plot of the first 2 episode what I really dont get is why Moffats stories bringing back old enemies or stories refering to the classic/old series is so wrong but when RTD did it it was somehow better. I mean who reintroduced the daleks and the doctors relationship with them, who brought back davros, the master, the timelords plus countless other past monsters. You say why should the casual audience care about the daleks/skaro/the master in this story but why should the audience have cared about them in the previous RTD stories - I cant see a difference.

My other problem is the references to the stories being too convoluted and concentrating too much on the history of the show somehow leaving the casual audience behind. The trouble is try as I might to understand this, looking at the episodes of the last series where was this happening? Last series 10 of the 14 eps had new monsters/situations with as far as I can remember either no or very little reference to anything previous. Even the ones with old villains had nothing in them I can remember as being over reliant on previous history etc. As for convoluted, which episodes were convoluted? I would say 2 at most including the xmas special. So for the vast majority of the last series I cant agree that this was true either.

If you want to say you dont like Moffats writing or stories or the direction he is taking the show then fair enough but the other points I just cant see.

I like both RTD and Moffats writing. They both have done poor stories of which I would be critical, but I dont see anything so different about them.

There seems to be some confusion as to whether bbc iplayer/itv player on sky and Virgin etc is included in the ratings. Some sources say yes others no ?

More popular abroad than in its home country. We've seen that with Neighbours and Baywatch among others.

They are in consolidated ratings. There used to be a question in the BARB FAQs that showed that.

I'm sorry but that sentence is as convoluted and impenetrable as the very Dr Who episodes we're discussing. You aren't Stephen Moffat posting under an assumed name by any chance?

Well everybodies opinion is valid, I just find it interesting the things you concentrate on.
From my point of view I did not like series 6 that much and was much more interested in 7 especially Clara who I loved from the off and series 8 for me was one of the best.

I just don't see that Clara has bickered any more than Donna or even Rory/Amy with the doc. Clearly though this years ratings are down and what happens from here is unknown.

Not a surprise - I lasted a couple of episodes but there was something missing.

Next week we have the last ever New Tricks, it's done very well this last series. So isn't it foolhardy if not stupid for ITV to start Lewis against it? Then Lewis gets The Apprentice against it the following week, with a Tuesday and Wednesday double header start.

Yes every week, another 1m or so viewers.

Tbh I watched it all the way through and I quite enjoyed it. Not amazing drama, but enjoyable enough. Its a shame.

Tbh You should be celebrating that at last ITV is using Tuesday 9pm slot to put a drama on and give the BBC a bit of competition. Its not going to do amazingly because only about 1.5m viewers are used to watching ITV on Tuesday. It really should have been on for 2hrs where it could start against the weak Holby City. As it is, veiwers are used to watching BBC1 on Tuesday so Lewis is the underdog here. Its got everything working against it, but it better to have drama here than not. Lewis has got a loyal audience of around 4-5m.

New Tricks has done well, but every week its faced nothing but pathetic opposition. When it faced drama on ITV last year it plummeted.

All Star Mr & Mrs should be axed by now. I would have given that the chop (its going to do well now isn't it) and in its place travel factual on Wednesday. Particularly against new BBC1 drama Cuffs set for this day. It would make good complementary scheduling. Factual at 8pm, drama at 9pm.

I get the impression that ITV are not too bothered about Lewis, this the last series isn't it?

Why are Channel 5 holding back Gotham until 2016 when it's already returned in American? Does this mean they want to show it as one continuous block this time after the midseason break saw a big drop in ratings last season? Not sure holding it back is the best idea as viewers may just find the show elsewhere. But I do think continuous blocks work much better in the UK. Also will it be Channel 5 that show it or could it end up on 5USA?

Well they put it out on Friday at 9pm last year and that is probably the most unsuitable slot. I think even Tuesday is better.

But I have no idea why it keeps being split, viewers just timeshift it and watch both parts together, therefore the overnights are lower.