Have a feeling that the ratings are going to be lowish for The Beast Below. Sunny Weather, Football on the other side has me worrying that we will be looking around 6.5million.. The papers will have a field day if true

I think 6.5 million - 7 million will be about right for overnights, not sure why you think the papers would have a "field day" though. That would represent a strong performance indeed.

Episode 2 overnights to date:

series 1 - 7.2 million
series 2 - 8.6 million
series 3 - 6.8 million
series 4 - 8.1 million

You have to bear in mind that overnight ratings tend to be less reflective of final ratings these days, as the numbers time shifting have increased dramatically the last two years.

This set of overnights for DW will more inaccurate than usual due to Doctor Who starting five minutes late and that won't be reflected in the ratings till we get the final figures, as well as having to factor in the time shift viewers, which represent on average a much larger audience than used to be the case.

6.7 million (including HD). Good result all things considered...

Should top the series 3 and possibly series 1 ratings with final figures, imho.

Yes, not bad at all. I suspect it will rise quite a bit when the final figures are in. A lot of people will have recorded it to watch later.

Top show of the day (rather shockingly Nick Knowles god awful lottery show was second! ), beat the football hands down! Share held steady at 34%.

Happy days, in short!

just a shame BBC didnt keep it at the 7pm slot..and let webbers latest farce be moved around.

im sorry theres no way in HELL DW should be shifted around for that steaming pile of poop over the bloody rainbow..

Had it been on at 7pm it would have been against the Harry Potter premiere that attracted nearly 6 million viewers and would have had a much larger crossover audience. I don't think it would have helped one bit.

Besides which, the show has not been in there 7pm slot regularly for a few years now. It's the same slot it was in last year for the first half of the series.

Further people on GB have worked out that the figures for post 7pm are no better than pre 7pm.

6.7 is very good. I'm thrilled it's doing so well. Would have hated to see it struggle when the quality's so high.

I think the BBC needs to show DW some Respect.

maybe better worded would be 'stable' timeslot and keeping to it.

maybe the BBC have more faith in the show than it's fans often do?

The BBC has shown terrific respect for the show, the amount of publicity they have done for this series alone has been way beyond any other drama show in their locker.

They do however know that the show does well in a pre 7pm slot and week in week out the ratings justify it.

Personally, I think DW does belong before OTR because of the audiences the shows are aimed at. OTR just isn't a family show the way DW is.

And again, up against the Potter premier, the ratings would have been lower by up to a million, i guarantee it. Then no doubt you would be complaining about why it was set to clash with it. You can't have it all ways!

Rather than complaining enjoy the fact that the show is still a ratings success!

Pffttt!!! you know me better than that!!!

The last time the press circulated was during the IP/TSP dip in series 2, which is as low as it got.

As long as the series a) makes the BBC more money than it costs to produce, and it b) it's audience share stays incredibly strong, they'll keep making it.

6.7m? Better than Merlin, Primeval, Spooks, Robin Hood, Demons. And the sun was shining for the first time properly on a weekend.

Yes, Who's done better, but it's done worse, and still been the number one Saturday night show.

The lowest overnights are in the 5.5 million region iirc. I think SITL was one (understandably given it was vs the BGT final), and TIP/TSP also were around that mark (rather less understandably!).

We should get the final figures for episode one in a couple of days, will be interesting to see the time shift it has gotten as it may also give us an idea of what the time shifts across this series are liable to be.

And AI for TBB should be out tomorrow as well.

If they kept in the the 7pm slot it would probably have to be taken off one week for Eurovision

It isn't a questin of respect, it is a question of scheduling around events that appeal to an entire country not just DW fans. We do not have "stripped scheduling" in this country as they do in the US - Channel 5 tried it when it started and it didn't work because there were so many clashes with established programmes on the other channels.

Even soap operas fall foul of scheduling changes, most often appearing on days for double episodes instead of their regular slots which is why ITV launched the ill-fated experiment for Thursdays which has seen Eastenders triumph and Emmerdale and Corrie slip and The Bill being axed completely.

Diehard fans on this forum will find a way to watch DW whatever the time slot...DW is the most popular i-player programme every week, it has ratings on a par with Corrie and Eastenders, Casualty and Holby City, it has huge overseas sales, it has an awards cabinet which is groaning at the seems from all sectors of the industry and all of that is utterly unaffected by whether the show is broadcast here AT 18:20, 18:30 or 18:45...

Can we try and stop confusing fandom and love for a programme with the desire for the BBC to stop everything it is doing for the UK in order to placate just one show which still, after nearly 50 years, is unique.

As someone who remembers the 'bad of old days' of the BBC repect (or lack of) for DW I think they do very well with the new series. Saturday night time slot, good budget and plenty of advertising. It can, and was, always be worse

Exactly. The BBC currently shows the show more than sufficient respect. The fact that they don't put it on in the exact time slot some fans want it to be in is neither here nor there. DW hasn't been in the 7pm slot week on week since 2005. Time to move on from this issue, imho.

'The Beast Below' gets an AI of 86.

So, clearly the public enjoyed it.

Regards,

Cypher

And a final (including time shift) rating (for BBC 1 and HD) of:

10.09 million.

A time shift of 2.09 million.

I think its 10.08m because of the rounding, if we're being pedantic. But hey, who cares? Thats a great figure. It turned a 'good' start to the series into a 'fantastic' start to the series.

Thats the third highest normal series (ie. non-special) rating ever for New Who (behind 'Rose' and 'Journey's End').

WoW!!!! Brilliant!!!! Definitely a top trump of previous series openers! Well done to all involeved!

Hopefully this means that TBB will have a very high time Shift!

Nope - 9.591+0.494 = 10.085, which rounds to 10.09.

Blimey, 10.09 is spectacular!

You're absolutely right. I hadn't seen the numbers into 3dp. Even better!

That timeshift for The Eleventh Hour is staggering, utterly staggering!