This may not have been meant to amuse, but it made me laugh.

And I absolutely agree.


Yes! I want lots of fizz and excitement next series. I want it to be non-stop amazement. Sorry to the intelligentsia on here - I suppose I'm just a pleb at heart.


Yes, it's the DW fan mindset. We like things to be bleak and unredeemable because then - the Doctor steps in and with great cleverness and panache saves the day.

At least, he used to.

It just seems to depress everyone.

Everyone except Strictly fans I would imagine, at the moment.

Poor Simon Cowell lol

I think I read a thing somewhere that although Strictly beats X-Factor in the overnights. X-Factor beats Strictly in the final ratings or something like that...

I do find it quite hysterical actually. Which is nice. First time the x factor has made me laugh for years.

Yep, not too much in it then. But nevertheless lower and 3 episodes scoring lower than anything in series 8.

The death thing has been done to death over the past few years. I've enjoyed this series, but will be glad if death isn't the theme of the next series too. Three series in a row with death as the arc plot/theme. Heaven, hell, souls, resurrection, graves, tombstones. Monotonous.

They're not mutually exclusive. You can have clever at the same time as fizz and excitement. Maybe what you're getting at is people equating "dark" with "intelligent". Not necessarily the same, sometimes the opposite. There are also different types of clever. Heaven Sent is typical Moffat cleverness, which means that despite the cleverness, it was also monumentally idiotic and makes almost no sense whatsoever (see also series 6). But it was dark and gloomy, so therefore "clever".

I think they can keep the 12th Doctor's character pretty much as it is now, no need to revert to 10th & 11th at their wackiest, but put him in stories with a bit more energy and colour to them. I just want a bit more balance. I can enjoy the gothic episodes of this series and at the same time want a bit more variety to balance things out. Two parters don't help - they restrict the ability of the show to leap from one style to the other week to week.

I would guess we were the *most* obsessed, but it goes on elsewhere looking at the UK TV ratings thread. However, said before, Who is the only programme on British Television where I know what the AI's are! Maybe it's the 1989 cancellation veterans like myself who pore the data the most?

Genre TV wise, Who's the (ahem) Daddy still. Charlie Higson would kill for Who's overnights as consolidated figures for Jekyll and Hyde, for example. (That's not crowing. Nice to see ITV doing something a bit different...and I like Charlie.) And regardless of the quality, we saw how Jonathan Strange...faired.

Apologise to Mr Kubrick and never complacent, but I'm trying to learn how not to worry...and love the overall reach.

Except..."a million viewers" have NOT actually been lost from last year. This is an illusion.

This illusion was caused by:

Rugby ...a few other sporting events...Halloween...Strictly Come Dancing...Some weather occurrences...Apple TV/iTv ...Demand Viewing in general...Social Media...Bouncing broadcast times...some tragic real life events that kept people unusually distracted away from entertainment viewing ...some petty and silly "rebellions" against Moffat...an unusually busy Saturday night social season ... Changes in the BARB System...Changes in the AI System...the first season in almost a decade to NOT start off with either a new doctor, Companion or Showrunner...and a slew of other factors that combined to make this very much NOT a typically accurate representation of viewers and ratings this year...

More than a million viewers HAVE been lost since last year. It is not an illusion.

Indeed, 23% fewer people watch Doctor Who now than five years ago. That's not overnights, that's finals.

Again, not an illusion.

Tape checked rating for Doctor Who, Hell Bent is 4.47m (20%).

4.47 million.

I wasn't expecting anything better to be honest - this series has just been the poorest since the series returned IMO. Its all a bit 'meh'.

I have 5 episodes still to watch from the current season and I'm in no rush to view them where as a few years back Doctor Who was essential 'do not miss' viewing for the family - now no one is really bothered in my household and even if we view an episode people drift in and out of viewing - doing other things -playing on phones etc.

I still think Capaldi is an excellent Doctor but the series has certainly lost focus with companions no one cares about and stories that are too complicated to follow. Moffat is becoming the JNT of the rebooted series and certainly needs to go.

New blood and revisit to the shows basic concept is whats needed not more of the same Moffat mumbo jumbo.

Expected bigger ratings for the last episode. Disappointed.

No rise for a finale - Epic fail Moff. Time to **** off.

If people haven't bothered for most of the series I couldn't see them returning for the finale. The Christmas episode could have a low rating too.

Catherine Tregenna, Jamie Mathieson, Peter Harness and Sarah Dollard not new enough for you?

Doctor Who TV are reporting overnights of 4.8m, the second highest of the series, as are Doctor Who News, so I'm not sure where this 4.41m has come from.

In a word NO - because Mr Moffat can have as many new writers as he likes - he still has the final say - decides the way the series is going and ultimately can reject any new work he doesn't like.

Writers are given a brief for the series to work on and that comes from the show runner - its time for Mr M to go sadly before he totally destroys our beloved show.

4.47m. Tape-checked.

4.8m is the figure without "tape checking" - which assumes the show ran exactly to take scheduled slot. The "tape checked" figure is accurate to the minutes that the show aired, so will discount any slight overrun of Strictly which would boost the beginning of the slot.

Not sure which number those websites usually use, but that's the difference. The BARB officials are always tape checked.

I am actually happy with the finale ratings. You've got to think that we're up against the X Factor, it's 8pm (lots of people out at this point) and Doctor Who is effectively in the death slot.

I'm not denying there's been a drop, but it's levelled off and remained incredibly consistent this series. Yes I'm sure changes can be made to bring some of those million back, but ya know what, I'm pretty proud of our little show.

For me Series 9 could actually be the best of New Who, of course some of you wont like it, but that's just my opinion.

So bravo Doctor Who, cause you're achieving 5-6 million in the finals, and for a ten year old show, that's absolutely fantastic! (See what I did there?... No???... Oh... I'll leave)

Hahaha.

This ^^^^

It had these same problems last year but was higher generally across the series and Strictly is higher this year leading into it.

Well we lost a million this year, perhaps those million decided to go watch it on I player (which for some stupid reason isn't included in the figures)

I'm not gonna moan about my show still achieving 5-6 million, what do I need to do that for? I've got you lot to do it for me haha.

Maybe the supposed break next year will do it some good.

How dare you, the ratings clearly tell you you're not allowed to like it.

Really though, I'm with you on that. Obviously they're not the show's best ratings but it wouldn't be the first time the show had low ratings despite some brilliant episodes. Critically this series seems to have done tremendously well and I'm at no loss why.

I agree, it's good to have a positive perspective on these things.

The other thing to say - and it's been said countless times on here by me and other posters - is that the revived Doctor Who is ten years old. Does anybody really expect the show to maintain the same viewing figures??

There will always be the diehard fans, and then there will be casual fans. Eventually, whatever you do, however good your stories, however good the acting, interest among the casual fans will plateau and then fall. If it wasn't during series 9, it might be during series 10 or series 11. As it is, series 8 and 9 were excellent, better than previous two series (6 & 7); but it didn't make any difference, because casual fans are casual fans - they drop away.

By all means, change the showrunner, the writers, the doctor and the companions, if you think you can improve on them; but it probably won't make any difference. The show has been on or ten years!! Of course interest will start to fall! Going back to the past (as some people appear to want to) and making the show like it was during the RTD era won't change that.