You seem to have this thing all arse-about-face...

When DW was up against coronation street the BBC were doing all they could to destroy the brand; the 1985 cancellation U-turn, withdrawing funding, cutting episode numbers per series, lack of merchandising compared to the 60s/70s, the sacking of colin baker, having McCoy play a Doctor at short notice with initially no idea where he wanted to take the role... the show was at a weak point, and CS was the death blow. Right now, the BBC are investing more than ever in merchandising, dvd animations/ restorations, conventions, tie ins, the 50th anniversary special, series 8, consistently good ratings... right now the show is in a very strong position, so putting it up against TV is a good move. If this were 1987, it wouldn't be.

Social media/forums do not really reflect everything, the same as "ratings" the same as the AI and the same as general reviews really....An overall concensus is that Doctor Who very much has been across the past 8 years one of the most consistent shows ever...few make it this long with sustained interest, let alone globally and here we have a show that has proven this.

Nothing here really matters at all....its really just looking and comparing...but tbh it gets more and more difficult to compare year on year as the world, the media, the networking keeps continuing to change up...

Fact is, I loved TBOSJ - CW but Hide last night IMO is the definition of what a classic episode is all about! Everything was spot on and i cannot wait to rewatch it

I can already see it, after Moffat/Matt leave half the threads on here (and anywhere else for that matter) will be:

"Bring back Moffat"

"Matt Smith should return as the Doctor"

"I'm afraid XYZ is going to suck as the Doctor"

"DW is more childish/adult now than under Moffat"

"I want the old writers back"

"I miss the compicated storylines of s05/06"

"Bring back the good ol' RTD/Moffat days of DW"

"They need to bring David Tennant back as the Doctor"

"DW isn't as good as it used to be under XY"

Quite a lot of it has to do with the "I want this culture" that has been mentioned in an another thread on here.

Yep I posted that thread yesterday, and you're right.

People forget to just enjoy what they are watching and are obsessed with what they think should happen.

Also when people get it into their heads that people don't like something they don't give it a chance anymore and moan about it regardless of how good it actually is.

Case and point is Hide getting loads of great reviews yet still seeing people moaning.

I'm sorry but if almost every review is giving it a good review, it must have surely been at least a decent episode.

As others have essentially said, this is an awful lot different. Both Doctor Who and The Voice are important to the BBC, and this isn't the first time that the show has gone up against the ITV talent show.

Even if they are trying to protect The Voice, they put out what they consider the stronger contender (Doctor Who, apparently) in its place. It might knock the overnight ratings a bit, but the fact they've commissioned Series 8 already combined with the fact they have the guts to put a sci-fi show up against a family talent show is very telling of their confidence in the Doctor Who brand.

Tom Spilsbury (Editor of DWM) just tweeted an interesting stat;


Just to note, I post this because I find it interesting and a little surprising, NOT as a dig at The Doctors inbetween.

I don't think it's anything to do with "having the guts" to put Who up against BGT, if they want to protect TV, which seems their main priority, the only other place to put Who would be in its old post Grandstand (Final Score) spot. I agree Doctor Who is much more important to the BBC than it was in 1987, but I would also say that it isn't as important to them as it was in 2006 (e.g. only five regular episodes last year and eight this). But I also accept the point that we are moving away from "fixed points in time" towards viewers watching shows more flexibly.

Final rating for Cold War '7.37m'

Asylum of the Daleks 8.33m
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship 7.57m
A Town Called Mercy 8.42m
The Power of Three 7.67m
The Angels Take Manhattan 7.82m
The Bells of Saint John 8.44m
The Rings of Akhaten 7.45m
Cold War 7.37m


7.95 million - Series 1 average
7.71 million - Series 2 average
7.55 million - Series 3 average
8.05 million - Series 4 average
7.73 million - Series 5 average
7.52 million - Series 6 average
7.88 million - Series 7 average after 8 episodes.

Sorry, off ratings topic again but I'm a little late to the conversation. I think peoples expectations has a lot to do with these things as well. I think Blink was only the second Doctor-lite episode, with Love and Monsters being the first and I went into it dreading that we would get something similar so I was pleasantly surprised when we got a decent episode instead. Similarly I was left a little disappointed by Hide but I think that's because I had raised my expectations too much with some of the promotional material, (or maybe I just need to re-watch it when I'm more awake )

Overnights just Give tabloids are lovely story to print.
they wont even bother putting in the story some of the consolidated numbers because then the story falls apart.

the only thing I want either put the series on full in spring or winter please no more breaking it up because it just doesn't suit the show.

On the moffat front did he know Sherlock was going to be such a massive hit? I also think the negative feedback has shocked him a little bit but RTD must have warned him about some will be thrilled others meh and others will hate everything he does.

I can see Both Moffat and Smith leaving in 2014,Moffs comments on less time infront on the show I truly believe when he feels there's no place he can take the story he will quit.

Erm....your rigorous assessment of the tweets you read from the Twitter people you follow leads you to conclude what now?

As it happens you're wrong. Every other tweet last night was about science, archeology or American politics. Fact. But only if you were reading the tweets I read.

I'm sure many fans are left frightened when they seen the latest rating figures 4.7 or 4.9 cant remember now but its a 740,000 loss from what last week had and that was only 5 million so it only leaves me worried that soon, the way things are going it will end up with krap scripts which is basically what they have now with a exception of 'Hide' but 7b ratings arent doing that too well. is it Clara?. is it the childish doctor? is it the poor scripts? is it the hot weather? who knows i just hope it doesnt end up going the way Colin baker did and with Sylvester only pulling in 3 million views a ep.

what do you guys think? before you say they havent calculated everything yet in the final barb but even still it only adds a million but from what i noticed, back in 2008 the ratings were 9 million even the xmas special was 14 million!!

Not the figures I've seen but hey, let's not let facts get in the way of your magnificent deductions.
Doctor Who will soon have the same 'crap scripts' that it has now and will continue to be watched by 1 in 4 of the people with TV's switched on...how is this a scare?

Welcome to the forums Graham, may I introduce you to the ratings thread:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...74652&page=113

It includes lots of interesting facts and figures which prove that there is no ratings scare

I think the facts show that the BBC doesn't care too much about overnight figures. They're no poorer than they were with the previous series, and they've confirmed Series 8 whilst pitting the current series up against the biggest contenders on a Saturday night. The BBC confidence in Doctor Who highlights how they are satisfied with its performance, which is a constant win on the overnights, more so when the later figures emerge, and better still when you hear how the merchandise flies off the shelf. The show is in quite good health on the viewing ratings front I'd say

As for my viewing habits, I still watch most episodes live-on-air as much as I can... there's a special feeling that comes with it that you don't get with watching it on catch-up, and it allows me to judge every episode fairly too

The only episodes I haven't watched live on air were...
Father's Day
Planet of the Dead
The Lodger
Cold War

I'm going to say it's because of the unlikable companion and the fact that Moffat is still in charge

The ratings are definitely and unarguably awful because the programme isn't made exactly for me. If I were in charge it would get 100m because some people would simultaneously watch it twice.

thats odd i was "reliably" informed over 9 million were watching in 2008 and only 4 million are watching now....

yeah I know... those numbers just lie...my aunts neighbours sons parrot doesn't watch anymore and thinks DW should take him on a writer... he's very good at sketches

I think the past few episodes haven't been up to the standard. If I wasn't such a big Doctor Who fan I'd have stopped watching after Cold War. The lack of story arc's has taken away that desire not to miss a single episode.

What? The fact that the show is just as popular as ever since 2005 is because of that?

Or do you mean in some uninformed denial of facts fantasy world?

I have to congratulate you on presenting the single least factually accurate post on ratings I've ever seen. To throw so many figures out there and for every single one of them to be wrong takes some doing.

If I had more time I'd do a point by point rebuttal, but in lieu of that heres the average series ratings since 2005:

7.95 million - Series 1 average
7.71 million - Series 2 average
7.55 million - Series 3 average
8.05 million - Series 4 average
7.73 million - Series 5 average
7.52 million - Series 6 average
7.88 million - Series 7 average after 8 episodes.




threads like this make me laugh really, the OP is riddled with inaccuracies on every point yet people just swallow them because it suits them to rather than actually seeking out the truth which is easily available to them.

The mods used to mop up threads like this in to the on-going ratings thread, no idea why they don't seem to bother anymore.

Also worth pointing out the series 7 ratings don't include iPlayer requests, which in some cases added over two million to the total (Asylum was the most viewed on iPlayer, I believe). That's staggering.

I guess the issue is whether or not the BBC thinks its important how many now watch Who 'live' as opposed to on-demand later on.

The BBC have made it clear in recent years they are keen to push multi platform viewing and the whole existence of the Live Plus 7 internal data only reinforces the point that the BBC are concerned with total reach more than overnights these days.

Thy are actually looking to trial showing some shows on iplayer before they air on the television in the near future, for example.

Overnights matter to commercial television because it dictates the advertising revenue they can demand. Obviously this is not a factor for the BBC.