I think that's a good overnight. Its important to take into account four important factors:

1/ Doctor Who is sandwiched between two ATROCIOUS shows (Tumble beforehand, and The National Lottery: Break The Safe afterwards). There is no lead-in to the show and nothing to stay tuned for afterwards either.

2/ X-Factor remains a ratings monster - particularly with Simon and Cheryl returning. Many households would have realised it clashed with the final 15 minutes of Doctor Who and so decided from the outset to watch X-Factor live (during broadcast) and Doctor Who on catch-up.

3/ Before Doctor Who returned, all of BBC1's Saturday evening shows (Tumble, Casualty etc) were only getting about 3m-4m viewers. So 5m+ as an overnight is still a big leap.

4/ The BBC has admitted Doctor Who has a disproportionately high 'catch up' audience and seems happy with that.

I do think things will change when Strictly returns. Doctor Who is a small oasis in a desert of crap Saturday night TV on BBC1 right now. I think its doing fine.

Yeah. I would've expected more like 5.5m so that's definitely dipped a bit.

I would expect the AI to be up because with a steady rating across the 45 mins it seems more like fans are watching it than casual audience.

You're coming around to the nutter way of thinking, Mulett

Mate, don't - I know lol

"You will be like uzzzz. You will be like uzzzz."

Not bad, not great rating, but pretty much what I was expecting as opposed to what I was hoping. (5.5 to 6m)

Should consolidate to 7m. SCD will help things. Starts a week Saturday, I think?

Three more weeks without SCD.

Strictly has its launch show (I think) next weekend but then there is a gap before it starts properly. A shame because I think Who and Strictly - if launched at the same time - could have been a massive ratings winner from the start. I have no doubt they still will be.

Launches on a Sunday, too - so we can't even have that.

Doctor Who jumped over 1 million when Strictly returned last series. Shame it's coming later on in this run. For now we get Tumble. Pittance.

This give a sensible view of the figures, from DoctorWhoNews.net

5.2 million watched episode two of the new series, Doctor Who: Into the Dalek, a share of 24.7% of the total TV audience according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Doctor Who was the second highest rated programme of the night, which was won by the return of the talent show The X Factor on ITV, which had 9.3 million watching. Against the Doctor, The Chase: Celebrity Special had an audience of 4.2 million.

Doctor Who did not suffer any loss of viewers during the clash with the X Factor, with ratings stable throughout the episode. Around 2 million viewers switched to ITV as Doctor Who finished. The second highest rated programme on BBC One was Casualty with 3.9 million watching.

Doctor Who is currently 21st for the week. Final figures will be released next week.

For subsequent episodes, everyone back from holiday, Strictly back in a few weeks, Tumble consigned to oblivion, the evenings getting darker so more people inside....I'm confident that when the season average it calculated it will be ballpark with the consistent average of top 7's early 8's we've had for the last eight years....bit sad as it would reinforce that DW has long ago reached saturation point with the general audience, but conversely, woohoo, the beeb can muck about it with it as much as they like and it keeps its audience.

(NB If the series average dips to 7 or below then obviously Moffat is the spawn of Satan's sock drawer and the show is doomed )

While I agree the live viewing figures are not that good I have learned from the last series that Doctor Who is one of the best shows on TV for gaining viewers once the final rating is in. Sometimes even almost touching the 2M gain mark.

BBCi player views are sadly not counted towards the final figure, but requests for a Doctor Who episode are also very high on there

BBC wont be panicking yet

I recall how disappointed I was that the break killed it - but it highlights that Doctor Who can still perform very, very well.

Maybe we'll see a reversal here - the second half could lift up Series 8.


That's not even including overseas performance. DW gets a lot of fallback. Especially compared to the majority of science fiction shows. A lot of reach.

No, not really imho. I predicted overnights around 4.5m - 5.5m. The show for the past few years has slipped into this rating patten.

Pretty bad to be honest last weeks opener was not good enough to keep people watching, this week was better though

5.2 would be about normal for dr who overnights,before add ons.
It was the same last series.
Its a later time so maybe fewer younger viewers.Are they deliberately courting the older viewers more?

We will have a better picture of how the ratings are going until around episode 5,6.

I think we are going for an overall series average of just under 7m. Over 7m i'll be very happy!

Too right. Ha.

Deep Breath final.

Quote:
“ 9.17m (37.9%)”

Factor in i player and that would still be a decent reach, but Mr Optimist here is going to predict that the overall series average will be over 7 million based on the consolidated time shifted figures only.

Not exactly a glass half full sort, but I make an exception with Doctor Who. After all, with DB at about the 9m mark and ITD likely to reach 7m, plus a better lead in coming up, it's very possible.

Edit: Decent time shift for Deep Breath there. Cheers for that, SJB.

Not good enough.

Second most watched show of the day and you think its bad?

Thank you!

Anyway.....

The Story so far.....

SERIES 8

1. Deep Breath. Overnight rating: 6.8m (32.5%) Final rating: 9.17m (37.9%) AI: 82

2. Into The Dalek. Overnight rating: 5.2 million (24.7%) Final rating: TBA. AI: TBA

Series average [After episode 1] : 9.17m

Doctor Who overnight series averages

Quote:
7.3m- Series 1: Overnight average (13 episodes)
7.2m- Series 2: Overnight average (13 episodes)
7.0m- Series 3: Overnight average (13 episodes)
7.2m- Series 4: Overnight average (13 episodes)
6.0m- Series 5: Overnight average (13 episodes)
5.7m- Series 6: Overnight average (13 episodes)
5.5m - Series 7: Overnight average (13 episodes)
Doctor Who final series averages

Quote:
7.94m- Series 1: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.71m- Series 2: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.55m- Series 3: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
8.05m- Series 4: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.73m- Series 5: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.52m- Series 6: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.44m- Series 7: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)

[Thanks to Gallifrey Base for the series ratings information ]

I was kind of aiming for 10 but that's still good final score.

0.9m less than "Eleventh Hour" - in August rather than April. Well played.


Episode 1 / Series Openers:

Rose: 10.81 million
The Eleventh Hour: 10.08 million
Deep Breath: 9.17 million
Partners in Crime: 9.1 million
The Impossible Astronaut: 8.86 million
Smith and Jones: 8.71 million
New Earth: 8.62 million
Asylum of the Daleks: 8.33 million

( Doctor Debut: Christmas Invasion: 9.84 million )