Psychological comfort barrier surpassed!

Thanks, Yog!

Woohoo! And relax!

And Yog could you take a quick look at your PMs please? I want to pick your brains on something.

Live + VOSDAL: 5.266m
+ Day 1: 6.600m
+ Day 2: 6.802m
+ Day 3: 6.932m
+ Day 4: 7.029m
+ Day 5: 7.166m

That is a good figure. Hopefully the finale will do just as well.

Always appreciated Yog. Good stuff. The head to head against the Zzzz Factor on Saturday will be very interesting.

That's a great jump for Day 5

Hopefully a jump like that for today, and we can get to the 2m Timeshift!

It might even be boosted by outraged readers of the Daily Mail tuning in to see exactly what they are outraged about

And don't forget the Telegraph readers getting all huffed about this New Agenda... they've got so many Agenda's over there I'm surprised they've not remained themselves the Agenda.

5.45 million for Death in Heaven!

I wonder what the people who go on about falling ratings have to say about the increased ratings - bless their cotton socks...

"But it's a whole 10k down on Name of The Doctor!!!!"

Held up very well against much stiffer competition in the form of The X Factor. The Series 7 finale was up against You've Been Framed! Top 100 Holidays

& before somebody asks the question... no, it isn't.


Spin away!!!!

Another solid if not massively exciting rating. Basically on par with the last finale (5.46m). Overall this series will continue the pattern of series average gradually floating down since series 5 (it'll average about 7.2m compared to 7.45m for s7). Not much of a change overall (although the AI has had a much bigger drop after 3 very consistent series from Moffat on that front).

I always get concerned about the ratings of the show (that's probably a bit weird - but it is one of my favourite programs) but it's good to know that nine years on, it's still has a strong following and can hold it's own against the likes of the X Factor.

Nothing will stop the ratings gradually floating down over time. It has been happening since Series 1, just at a slower rate to the majority of British television. RTD couldn't stop the ratings falling over three series and Series 4 only delayed it superficially - despite containing some of the lowest rated episodes of Modern Who - and Moffat has been unable to stop it happening over four series, in the face of overnight viewing reaching it's lowest ever point.

Casting Peter Capaldi might not have bumped the average up. But then, casting David Tennant didn't halt the decline, either.

It will take something for the ratings to start to go up year-on-year consistently, that would be quite the achievement - and we would have to admit that these last nine years have all been dire in comparison.


We'll have to see what Death in Heaven brings. The big AI drop might be 1 point. But then, peaks and troughs will do that to an average - as Series 4 shows us.

It will all be fine... and I look forward to doing this all again next year. Probably holding our own against The X Factor again. It has been fun.

This will have the lowest average rating for a series of New Who.

Where is the spin in that?

As it's been pointed out elsewhere on the thread, in the time that Who has been losing what half a million viewers, Eastenders, X-Factor and Strictly have been bleeding viewers. Compared to the other huge terrestrial shows, Who is doing alright.

That it's a bit moot

Series 2, 3, 6, 7 & 8 have all been "the lowest average rating for a series of New Who"

(at least both showrunners can say they bucked the trend at least once - no pressure on the next one!)

I agree that Who is doing alright in the ratings- not great, but alright.

But I object to the suggestion that anybody who suggests that the ratings have fallen- despite the name recognition of Capaldi- is spinning.

The situation is quite the reverse- constant spinning that the fall in the average rating and the AI are completely inconsequential.

It's not moot at all then is it? It's a fact.

And you missed an opportunity. Series 1 also had the lowest ratings of any series of New Who!

I am not really having a go. The Smith era has been my favourite and that saw a fall in the ratings.

But the key points are that an upswing in the ratings might have been expected off the back of Capaldi's popularity and that the ratings drop does have to be arrested at some point.

I know we're officially supposed to pretend that iPlayer doesn't exist but I thought ratings were up if you include iPlayer?

Also ratings are up globally aren't they?

Is that spin? Not sure, probably

I refer to other peoples reply to this to your comment.

It never fails to amaze me how some people complain about the show and are abusive towards Moffat. They rip apart the plot, the characters and the script writers. They revel in the "large" fall in overnight viewing figures and yet, amongst all that negativity they have towards the show, continue to watch it. Each and everyone of you who do this are pathitic and need to stop watching because basically, Doctor Who will survive quite nicely without you.

5.45 million? That's not too shabby at all. I think we can safely add another 2 million onto that - well done to Moffat and the Doctor Who team for a wonderful 8th series.

Well, ta very much for referring me in such a kindly manner. Unfortunately on reading through these other responses I find that they do not really explain why using the official viewing figures constitutes spin.

By the way, I don't think I have ever been abusive towards Moffat who is a hell of a lot smarter than his critics.

If I had stated that, I would have had to alert my own post for extreme silliness.

Expectations aside, a new Doctor hasn't affected the ratings for Modern Who yet. Perhaps one day.

Really pleased - I was worried fireworks night would impact on the viewing figures.