Is he also married into a family of BBC producers?

Was RTD?

Whithouse really is the prime candidate. Few others have the experience of show running successfully and writing DW.

And one thing we know about the BBC, its not what you know it's who you know.

I decided to waste some time improving my Excel skills and plotted the following charts.
Final Viewing figures for Doctor Who from 2005 - 2015:

http://prntscr.com/8lhqks

The black line is the trend-line. It's almost horizontal, but does actually have a slight negative gradient which does show that between Series 1 and 8 there has been a very very slight decrease in the numbers watching.

I've also included the (rather low) figure for Series 9 Episode 1 at the end. Obviously it cannot affect the overall trend seeing as there's only one value, but it will be interesting to see how the trend changes once the Series 9 data is available.

Also, I couldn't find a list of the Overnight values from Series 1 to 8 so I couldn't add them. Does anyone know where I can find such a list?

Here is a graph of the Average viewing figures for Series 1 - 8 complete with Standard Error Bars (derived from the Standard Deviation):
http://prntscr.com/8lhwwy

Again, it shows a slight decrease over the 9 years, but nothing drastic (not yet anyway; Series 9 could be different of course)


Anyway, this was all a result of boredom. I've been off for a good three months and I don't return to Uni for another 2 weeks.
Nevertheless, I don't think it was a pointless exercise. It's always good to improve you Excel skills.

Disclaimer: I'm not a statistician. I didn't even do Statistics at A-level so feel free to point out any flaws you can see.

How does it look if you remove 'Rose', all the Christmas/new year specials, the 2009 specials and the 50th special (leaving only the 'normal' episodes)?

Are you about to start your second year already??

It's not letting me actually do that (there are a few problems with the graph I need to sort out- I can't reselect the data to add new values in for example), but I didn't include any specials in the second graph (the series averages) so I imagine it would probably look similar to that graph- ie. a slightly steeper negative gradient, but still nothing particularly drastic.

(Here's the link again: http://prntscr.com/8lhwwy)


Yes.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/2921/doct...atings-plunge/

CRISIS!! CRISIS! lol

I am into the third week of my Masters course already.

I agree. I really enjoyed the episodes too but asking colleagues at work who are the 'casual' viewers most of them said they were a pile of sh** which I was pretty shocked and saddened by

Does seem like they are scrambling around to get the ratings up.

https://twitter.com/edwardrussell/st...07237580345344

https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/sta...10262261002240

no more than usual

I saw a trailer for Saturdays episode on the telly earlier. They are getting desperate now with these hysterical damage limitation attempts. What next? Listing when it's on in Radio Times I'll bet!!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/do...ppBXEavnUkOSS2

This is an interesting bit...

It does not include audiences for repeat showings, which would bump the total average audience to 7.33m.

Total iPlayer figures for the episode - on television, PC / laptop, tablets and smartphones - amount to 1.53 million requests.



Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/do...#ixzz3n46N5vBr
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook

These are fascinating, thanks for doing them. And what better way to up your Excel game than with Doctor Who themed spreads? I do the same with Excel and Powerpoint sometimes, guilty as charged

It all goes to show that Doctor Who is in brilliant health. Think of some of the biggest US shows it has drawn inspiration from - ignoring revivals and spin-offs, you have Buffy the Vampire Slayer which lasted seven years and saw declining ratings and reviews as it went (I loved it from start to finish, but that's just me). You have The X Files which lasted for nine seasons and a movie and saw declining ratings and reviews (it has a second relatively poor movie, but aside from that I loved it from start to finish and eagerly await the new miniseries)... huge TV phenomenons that have gone down with timeless cultural influence. Doctor Who is on its ninth series right now (without accounting for Classic Who) and opinions are divisive at their worst, solid to spectacular at their best. Viewing figures are consistent and good - if perhaps seldom mindblowing, but they are reliable. There's apparently unrealistic calls from the BBC to produce more each year, not to mention the constant rumours of a movie that crop up once a year or so. It has an expanding international audience, many of whom are playing catch-up and are breathing fresh life into the series gone by.

If this doesn't all equate to a successful show, then I don't know what the bloody hell it's expected to take. The X Factor might get double the views, but it doesn't have the longevity - nobody goes back to watch Series 3 of The X Factor, nobody has merchandise collections from Series 5-7, it's ultimately disposable television. Doctor Who, through thick and thin, always delivers the results I think, and your awesome Excel skills have illustrated that to anyone who dares to naysay.

Bar stewards!

I just think people need to calm down a bit and see where we are after, say, six episodes. Or 12 episodes! And, stating the bleeding obvious, there's never been a real correlation between quality and viewing figures. Chances are The Witches Familiar, which I thought was superb, is going to have the lowest consolidated figures since The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, which I thought was the best story of Series 2. Okay, life isn't fair, especially considering that I think I'm right in saying Voyage of the Damned, going purely on ratings, is the most successful episode of C21 Who. Some people might love that story, but some think it's not very good. I dont. Despite Cribbens, who is completely wonderful, even in a cameo. This is all entirely subjective, obviously!

Lost my thread now. Think I'll just stick with Corporal Jones's advice and look forward to Mr Whithouse's episode on Saturday!

Panicked? I asked you to substantiate that word and all you've given me is speculative, emotive nonsense. Unless you know for a fact that BBC schedulers were running around their offices and meeting rooms like headless chickens screaming "We're doomed! All doomed, I tell ye!". Hidden web cam in BBC offices perhaps? Knowing someone in the know? Actually being there yourself?

Thought not.

The only facts we know are the results of that late scheduling choice: Very poor figures. As to the reasoning behind it? That simply remains... unknown.

Really Isambard, your emotions will be your undoing.

Even if he was it shouldn't preclude him from getting the job

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... the tabloids are the only ones who take the overnights as a the be-all and end-all of ratings

Well show us all how it's done and share your hilarious topical gag about today's NASA announcement about the waters of Mars...

Only health warning for those is you can't just add them to the final ratings to get a total as obviously those are requests, not total viewers.

Part of the difficulty is what we have for the previous series is the final ratings. These don't include the iplayer viewings etc. Therefore it isn't sound to do as some people were which is add the iplayer viewings to the current series finals and compare those to the previous series finals.

Realistically only the BBC have the full figures and they'll know what the current picture is.

I noticed whilst trying to look at iplayer data just how slow the BBC are.. the only PDF I could find was for January 2015

The Witch's Familiar

Live: 2.878m
Live + VOSDAL: 3.705m
+ Day 1: 4.797m
+ Day 2: 5.139m

That's more than I was expecting....