Strangely the S4 viewing figures dropped heavily after Fire of Pompeii's 9.4m
Planet of the Ood 7.50
Sontaran Strategem 7.06
Poison Sky 6.53
Before jumping up (SITL was affected by the final of Britain's got talent)
There was a BIG rise for the finale Journey's End, partially due to the clever regeneration cliffhanger, which genuinely caught the country's imagination

Slightly hard to understand some of the rise and falls in those days, but it does seem that Doctor Who did attract more "casual" viewers back then, who would watch the "big" episodes like finales and Christmas specials, but not the whole series.

It is the way with every show, the opening episodes most watched, it continues to drop then by finale time it rises. It is just the standard Bell Curve

Looking at Season 4, viewing figures did swing about a bit. But I think it is a bit of a myth that it was a downward trend across the whole season saved by the regeneration cliffhanger at the end of The Stolen Earth. The final figures are as follows:

"Partners in Crime" - 9.14
"The Fires of Pompeii" - 9.04
"Planet of the Ood" - 7.5
"The Sontaran Stratagem" - 7.06
"The Poison Sky" - 6.53
"The Doctor's Daughter" - 7.33
"The Unicorn and the Wasp" - 8.41
"Silence in the Library" - 6.27
"Forest of the Dead" - 7.84
"Midnight" - 8.05
"Turn Left" - 8.09
"The Stolen Earth" - 8.78
"Journey's End" - 10.57

There are only two episodes that scored fewer than 7m viewers and a very clear upwards trend for the final five episodes.

I guess a good question would be: if there were a similar cliffhanger ending for a Capaldi episode (e.g. a shock regeneration), would there be a 2m lift in viewing figures for the concluding episode?

I doubt it. Missy and the General characters are one thing but I still don't think the show is close enough to doing a female Doctor just yet.

More likely, we'll get another actor in Tennant's age bracket after Capaldi though. A male actor.

A sexy young male actor you say?

Probably but definitely someone a bit older than Smith when cast and essentially around the same age when Tennant was cast if I were guessing and that's all I'm doing here.

I think Capaldi's a brilliant Doctor but realistically, I don't see him going past Moffat and Series 10 could easily be Moffat's last one. If anything, it looks very likely.

Of course , that is the best way to sell this show to young people. Same ole same ole(eye role)

BUT I bet money it will be a woman,


Thank goodness between young, cute actors we got the brilliant Capaldi

At the end of the day, as long as theyl choose the right person, I don't mind. After all it's not as if they were after a young actor when they hired Matt Smith came along, he just happened to be perfect for the role.

If anything, I'd have thought we would get a "POC" before a female Doctor

Normally the drop is after the first episode, but they all stayed on for the second episode, then 1.5m decided to move on.

It interesting how popular the Agatha Christie episode was, for a mid season "filler" episode, it clearly attracted people who aren't regular viewers of the show

I agree. I guess SM and Peter C will probably leave after Series 10. Lord knows who will take over as Show runner/Doctor, mind. For the latter, yeah, they'll probably go for a younger actor. And I think it will be male. Whether they'll be as good as Capaldi though...no guarantees. Obviously. And that clearly goes for show runner too. (some would say it can only be an improvement.....well, watch this space, basically!)

ETA I liked Tennant, but if they start second guessing the audience and going for a certain demographic...I don't think that would be good. Who wants a Tennant-alike?

That would suggest the template for 'good' or 'popular' Who is therefore young(ish) and 'sexy'. Tennant was right at the time, but ya gotta mix it up! Which is what has succeeded so well artistically, in my slightly humble opinion, post Tennant. And the Tennant-mania only really kicked in with his third series. (which, I hasten to add, I really enjoyed.)

I hope you're right, although I wouldn't mind either leaving sooner tbh.
I liked Matt Smith's doctor but I hated the story arcs that were never resolved. I also hated how most episodes were mostly build up, with a rushed and convenient ending.
I can't warm to PC as the doctor at all and I hate his stories even more. I miss the days I could watch the episode on Saturday, and then forget about Doctor Who until the next week. I feel like most episodes are going over my head these days because there's too many references to episodes I've only seen once. I also can't stand River Song.
In fact, the only reason I'm still watching is because my boyfriend is.

It would be a real shame if modern Doctor Who was limited to casting young and sexy/cute men for the lead role, as I feel that older and "weirder" men generally play the role much better. I always liked the idea that the Doctor wasn't this typically perfect hero who looked like Prince Charming and always got the girl in the end, as it always said to me that you don't have to be all that to be a hero. Tennant lost that for me, and he was too "hip" and lacked that feeling his predecessors had that he really was from another world.

Capaldi, however, nails it and I could full well picture him in a Doctor Who story from the 60's or 70's. His age helps capture that feeling of paternity and he has such an aura of mystery and intelligence.

We all have our own ideas of what the Doctor should be like, I just think it would be a pity for the show to not have more like Capaldi and to go back down the eye candy route

Agreed, but the majority of people like Capaldi, it is just the minority (whiners) are always heard more.

He's leaving next year or he recently signed a new 5 year contract. It all depends which rumour you listen too.

I think it's fair to say that most of us that have been critical of this series haven't been critical towards Capaldi but rather the writing and direction of the series. Obviously I don't speak for everyone with that statement but it's true for me and I hope it's true of the majority.

That's why I was confused. There's some comments on here that make it sound like it's a fixed point in time, not changeable, happening as we speak. But from what I can see Moffat is considering moving on soon but nothing fixed in stone and he could be running the show for the next decade.

If that's true and you add it to the much rumoured "little or no DW in 2016" and that that is because of SM's commitment to do Sherlock (driven by its stars' availability), it hardly bodes well.

Because of his love of the show (and quite possibly his ego ) SM himself may think he's committed to it, and doing his best for DW until a suitable successor is found, but I think it undermines things over time.

How's he going to feel if some plumb Hollywood job is offered? How committed is he really if Sherlock (for practical reasons) has to take priority?

It's not a situation that the BBC should allow to continue for any great length of time.

I guess it depends on how you define 'regular'. Do you have to watch every episode each season to be a regular viewer, or can you be classed as a regular viewer if you watch 10/11 episodes out of a 13 episode season?

I personally think in the earlier seasons of Who, we had people who watched every week plus people who watched almost every week and then - quite possibly - a few who tuned in two or three times a year, mainly for the big episodes.

It feels like over the past few years we've shaved off the 'big episode only' viewers and the 'almost every week' are going to. So we have a core of 'every week' and I guess it just depends now as to whether they all keep coming back.

At least the people i know, and myself, we have been critical as you say of the series, but Capaldi hasn't been the problem. The biggest problem is that Moffat and the other writers haven't utilsed his potential. Heaven Sent and the speech in the Zygon episode shows what the man can do if you can get good scripts in his hand.

I hope they go on past form (hiring someone who's already been on the show) and go for Tom Riley.

I would be gutted if Peter leaves if Moffat does - he's only just starting to nail the role (and/or the writers and showrunner are only just starting to) imo, and there's so much potential there it's unbelievable - he just needs a slightly different, more consistent vehicle for me (though this is something the show's always struggled with for some reason - perhaps needing different tones of episodes to please allcomers - ?).


I'd agree with this this. When it was new, and pretty much throughout Tennant's run, it was event TV the whole family here would tune in for. There's going to be a natural drop off for such a long-running show of this type, but since series five the 'event' viewers I know have stopped, probably largely because of the long arcs and payoffs*, and even regulars have diminished (the ones closest to me for the same reasons).

* (There are probably many other varied reasons, not least because of the variable quality of some of the 'events' - thinking particularly of some of David's specials.)


Heaven Sent is deeply flawed for me but you're right, Peter was cracking. And that Zygon speech was just too overcooked for me, but that said I completely agree

I would be sorry to see Peter Capaldi do just three series. He's one of the best, no he is the best since Tom Baker and deserves to be in the role, if not as long as Tom, then for at least four or five series.

He is quite Doctorish on DaVinci's Demons and pretty wasted in Robot Of Sherwood to be honest.

Recent Moffat series finales have often been disappointing due to key points left unanswered or having explanations that come across as really lazy given the length of time the arc runs for. It ends up reflecting badly on PC but it's the writing that's the problem rather than his ability or suitability for the role.

That said, casting an older Doctor has likely lost a chunk of the casual audience, which seems to be the direction Moffat has took the series in with his storylines and "heavier" writing style. The show does need pulling back a bit to recapture what made it so successful in the first couple of series.

Have these famous "viewing figures" ever taken into account:
1) the number of viewers who record the show to watch it later when more convenient;
2) the number of viewers ditto who go straight to iPlayer for the recorded view;
3) the millions of people who get BBC on cable overseas and who can watch it live, like me - or do expats and foreign Dr Who fanatics not count?

I bet the viewing figures are way higher than those extrapolated from a few set-top boxes in middle class suburbia.