I think you have a point, in as much as if Doctor Who were getting overnights of 2m on Saturday night while the rest of BBC1's Saturday night shows were getting 5m+, then it would be an issue (even if Who's final figure was 8m). But its overnights still compare very well to the rest of Saturday night telly and I see its final viewing figures more as the icing on the cake.

I don't think anybody is pretending that the current show will run forever and be immune to change. Expectations shouldn't be that high (though, come to think of it, there is a bit of that mentality in some places) But we're a long way off the 80s. Unfortunately I can't talk for the show's cultural appeal back then, but it appears to be pretty damn strong (and seemingly growing, globally) at present.

Nor is it just Moffat and his merry band of followers trying to defend overnights, of course. Ultimately, going forward, it's going to come down to the perception of the broadcaster. The current regime have been very promising in that regard.


But Cohen and Moore aren't going to be around forever. Eventually Moffat will leave and we don't know how that will service the show (though there will always be those who pretend ratings will skyrocket the instant he leaves). Thankfully we do at least have that ability to change the cast and crew and somehow get away with it - with a shot of refreshing the series. Whether the next shake-up will be responsible for less or more "casual" viewers tuning in, that's not for us to say.

As it stands, Doctor Who is still keeping up. Though, even if the current series survives long enough to come to an end in... say... 2020... I bet there will still l be somebody boasting that they predicted it all along I think the current run has surely surpassed initial expectations by now.

Maybe it will end up being released on BBC iPlayer 'Netflix-style' (the entire season at the same time).

Whatever works in days to come, eh

I want Who to get massive ratings every week....10 million please. That'll do.

But back in the real world...some very good points being made here. Not going to be complacent for a moment having seen the show effectively cancelled in 1989, but coming up to 10 years in the consistency is pretty remarkable. By 1969 the ratings compared to the Dalekmania years were quite small, as indeed were the ratings for the IMO brilliant first Pertwee season. The ratings dip between Season 22 and 23 was huge, but it is clear in retrospect that the people in charge didn't give a damn about the show. Don't think we're anywhere near that nearly a decade into C21 Who. With any long running programme there are peaks and troughs.

Just the way it is. Think Who's doing fine...but, yeah, no complacency.

LAST UPDATE:

Doctor Who Christmas Special Update:

Live + VOSDAL: 6.337m
+ Day 1-3: 7.927m
+ Day 4: 8.078m
+ Day 5: 8.195m


Other selected Christmas Day programming + day 1-5 update:

SCD: 8.804m
Miranda: 8.546m
Call The Midwife: 9.109m
Eastenders: 8.810m
Mrs Brown's Boys: 9.626m

Emmerdale: 6.430m
Corrie: 7.597m
Downton Abbey: 7.169m

Thanks Yog.

How are Michael McIntyre, Still Open All Hours and Top Gear doing?

Sorry, only just seen this and I've already left work today. So won't be able to get you the data

So....maybe around 8 and a half. Not bad considering ratings seemed to be generally a bit down. And it comfortably outperformed Downtown Abbey and the old nemesis Coronation Street.

(Cheers and a Happy new year, Yog. Great contribution to this thread as per....)

The ratings are in.

The BBC is far more commercially aware than it was in the 80s - had the show had the kind of support back them that it gets now then it would probably never have been cancelled. So long as the show remains a viable commercial property then it will continue. Plenty of people in the UK watch it, maybe not on initial broadcast but that no longer matters clearly.

From DMN:

Christmas Day 2014 - 'Live' Figures
BBC One
17:00 - Strictly Come Dancing: 5.79m
18:15 - Doctor Who: 4.64m
19:15 - Miranda: 5.15m
19:50 - Call the Midwife: 5.86m
21:00 - EastEnders: 5.84m
22:05 - Mrs Brown's Boys: 6.33m

ITV
19:00 - Emmerdale: 4.80m / 4.95m
20:00 - Coronation Street: 5.47m / 5.66m
21:00 - Downton Abbey: 4.73m / 5.02m

On the subject of overnights


Looks like Peter will be safer in the TARDIS for now.

(Although being somebody who enjoys TM, I hope it miraculously recovers or is saved by mitigating factors)

I know this thread is mostly about Doctor Who ratings - but does anyone have a view on why the Christmas Night viewing figures were down across the board?

On paper, the BBC1 schedule looked a sure thing. I was expecting overnights of 10m+. So it was quite a shock to see the likes of Miranda (6.67m), Call the Midwife (6.83m) and Mrs Brown's Boys (7.61m) get the overnights they got.

Last year was a different picture: Mrs Brown's Boys (9.4m), Doctor Who (8.3m), Call the Midwife (7.1m).

Was it just a one-off or a sign that changing viewing habits are now impacting on Christmas Night too?

7.6m winning Christmas Day is quite something. I think the Ratings Thread seem to put it down to a mixture of the downward trend but also a lack of stand-out "one-off" event shows on the schedule. I think we'll just have to see what happens next year - and how the BBC & ITV respond.

DW was very much a contrast to last year. A regeneration episode following the 50th anniversary as opposed to what felt more like the ending of Series 8, one month after the series ended. I suspect we can expect more like this so long as we're running later in the year.

Sherlock on the other hand is sure to do superb this year for that reason. No matter what anybody thought of Series 3.

It has been good to look back though on what people have posted in the Ratings Thread, though. The EastEnders overnights for example:


Coronation Street was also down 1m (12%) from 2013 and Emmerdale down 10%. I think they will continue to drop TBH. I used to watch CS & EE live a few years ago, but it feels like such a chore and much prefer to catch-up in bulk whenever I dip in now.

Sky also put out this: http://corporate.sky.com/media-centr...-christmas-day

On the plus side, while I was browsing, I saw that DW was the only BBC show to get in to the top 5 for Children 4-15 for 2014.

Positive press in the US

http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/05/doctor-who-ratings-2/

This seems a reasoned analysis- neither boosterism nor scaremongering.

The relaunch of Doctor Who took place at a time when everybody was arguing that Saturday night telly-watching was dead and alongside the dreaded X Factor and Strictly, the show demonstrated that people would watch shows on transmission. And there are still shows that do achieve that- look at the overnights for things like Great British Bake-Off and Strictly. And in drama it isn't just Sherlock that manages this- even something like Cilla achieved overnight ratings well ahead of Dr Who last year.

With both the overnights and the final figures down for the Capaldi era there certainly is no need for complacency. In fact, some might even say that there was the need for a bit of rethink.

I'll absolutely disagree with those "some" who would say it requires "a rethink." Certainly at this stage.


Shows that were originally more popular than Doctor Who have actually lost millions since it came back. Some are still running, some have come down to the 4m-5m range and gone away. Others are still above us but have still seen a decline greater than we have.

How publications have the audacity to declare our ratings flopping or troublesome despite not yet losing 1m over 9 years is beyond belief. Expectations are too high.

I 100% agree with this but just to prove the doubters wrong, can we get a similar ratings list for say Eastenders, Strictly, X-Factor, Corrie etc over the last 5 years or so, because I'm pretty sure they'll have all lost on average maybe 20%, looking at roughly 3-4m drops?

You can see EastEnders' overnights further above, I only saw percentages for Corrie & Emmerdale at the time. But here's X Factor & Strictly finals (one has held up better than the other)



I can't find a Coronation Street list, only that it's overnights are down 1m from last year.

...and here's what a drastic ratings slide actually looks like:

The iPlayer numbers are out. They're not impressive.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...ristmas-charts

1 Top Gear Patagonia Special, Part 1, 2.08 million

2 EastEnders, Christmas Day, 1.69 million

3 Top Gear, Patagonia Special, Part 2, 1.55 million

4 EastEnders, Boxing Day, 1.43 million

5 The Apprentice final, 21 December, 1.31 million

6 Miranda, Christmas Day, 1.26 million

7 EastEnders, 23 December, 1.15 million

8 EastEnders, 24 December, 1.11 million

9 Doctor Who, Christmas Day, 1.07 million

10 The Boy In The Dress, Boxing Day, 1.06 million

11 EastEnders, 22 December, 1.06 million

12 Mrs Brown’s Boys, Christmas Day, 976,900

13 EastEnders, 29 December, 971,800

14 Call The Midwife, Christmas Day, 948,800

15 The Wrong Mans, part 1, 22 December, 655,000

16 EastEnders, 30 December, 643,300

17 Not Going Out, 24 December, 494,900

18 Gangsta Granny, 30 December, 488,100

19 Match of the Day, Boxing Day, 470,900

20 The Wrong Mans, part 2, 23 December, 454,500

* iPlayer requests, 22 to 30 December 2014

BBC1 BARB w/e Dec 28th:


BBC2:


ITV1 chart for posterity:


( no episodes of EastEnders removed this time, Mulett - there was just the one in the Top 5)

See you all for Series 9 and more doom and gloom!

Thank you CD93!

Strictly has a greater incentive than most to watch live because you only get a half hour to vote so, if you watch on catch-up, you lose your opportunity to influence the result.

X-Factor gives you 24 hours but, even so, there's incentive to watch it sooner rather than later. With Doctor Who the only incentive to watch immediately is if you want to comment in the forums

Thanks CD93. Never complacent, but that really isn't bad at all considering all the figures.

Personal Context: Remember the relative kicking Who was getting in 1988 and, particularly, 1989 when Coronation Street was ruling the roost. If you'd told me in 'the dark days' (ie the 90's) that Who would not only return, but have had TEN consecutive Christmas Specials I'd have suggested that you shouldn't really be smoking so much of that stuff.

So...2014 and Who is still there punching it's weight and in the week comfortably beating all 5 episodes of CS. (Not that I've got anything against CS, mind!)

The figures from America, etc. are pleasing too. So, yeah, never complacent, but I always look at the whole context of the 51 years....and Who is really doing fine as we approach C21's Tenth Anniversary.