Steven Moffat has once again defended Doctor Who’s viewing figures as he reassured doubters there has been “no drop-off in the ratings”.

Speaking at a recent Doctor Who event at the Royal Television Society, the showrunner and head writer revealed that, statistically, viewership for the series is as strong as ever. “The figures are the same,” he said. “The headline, boring though it is, is that they’ve barely changed since the show came back.” The latest run, which concluded on Saturday, averaged an ‘overnight’ rating of 5.01 million.

Steven explained: “The way people watch it has changed, with people now watching it on catch-up to a much greater degree. Since Matt Smith took over, the time I’ve been doing it, the number of people that watch on iPlayer has trebled. Even if our overnights were our final rating, it would still be a hit. I’d be working hard, even as a Scot, to be disappointed!”

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The final BARB rating for Dark Water has been revealed.

The episode, which formed the first half of the Series 8 finale, was aired on BBC One on Saturday 1st November and was watched by an official UK audience of 7.34 million.

The consolidated figure is much higher than the initial overnight of 5.27 million as it includes those who watched the episode within the first 7 days of its transmission. The closing moments of the episode featured a twist which sparked a huge amount of interest in the press.

“Say something nice” (or not) about the Series 8 finale in our episode discussion!

Over 5 million people tuned in for the Doctor Who finale, Death in Heaven, on BBC One last night.

The climactic episode of Peter Capaldi’s debut series as the Twelfth Doctor was watched by an unofficial audience of 5.45 million, according to the overnight ratings.

Doctor Who was the 3rd most watched programme of the day with a 23.3% share of the total television audience. It was beaten to the top spot by Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor, which brought in 9.37 million and 7.9 million.

“Say something nice” (or not) about the Series 8 finale in our episode discussion!

It has been revealed that Series 8 of Doctor Who has set new ratings records in Canada.

With an average of 773,000 viewers each week, Doctor Who has become the most watched series on the Space channel to date, with the audience for Peter Capaldi’s debut series as the Twelfth Doctor seeing a 25% rise compared to Series 7.

In addition, Doctor Who is the highest rated programme on Saturday nights in Canada in its 9pm ET time slot. The finale, Death in Heaven, airs this Saturday.

“You know who I am.” Click here to rate & discuss part one of the Series 8 finale.

The final UK rating for In the Forest of the Night has been revealed.

The tenth episode of Peter Capaldi’s debut series as the Twelfth Doctor, which aired on 25th October, was watched by an official audience of 6.92 million. A considerable rise from its initial ‘overnight’ of 5.3 million, the consolidated figure accounts for those who watched the episode within the first 7 days of its transmission.

The episode was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

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Over 5 million people tuned in for Dark Water on BBC One last night.

According to the overnight ratings, 5.27 million joined the Doctor and Clara as they embarked on the first part of this year’s series finale, which featured a massive twist in its closing moments when Missy’s identity was finally revealed.

With a 22.4% share of the total TV audience, Doctor Who was the fourth most watched programme of the day behind Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor and Pointless Celebrities.

The final ratings, including those who watch it this week, will be made available in 7 days.

“You know who I am.” Click here to rate & discuss part one of the Series 8 finale.

The final UK ratings for Flatline have been revealed.

The ninth episode of the current series, which was first transmitted on BBC One on Saturday 18th October, was watched by an official audience of 6.71 million.

The figure is once again a considerable leap from the episode’s initial overnight rating of 4.55 million which shows that a lot of its audience – in this case, over 2 million – opt to record the programme and watch it within the first 7 days of its transmission.

For more ratings coverage, plus facts and trivia for each episode, see our Series 8 guides.

“Tiger, tiger, burning bright…” Click here to return to the forest in our discussion.

The latest episode of Doctor Who was watched by over 5 million people last night, according to the overnight ratings.

An audience of 5.3 million people joined the Doctor, Clara and Danny In the Forest of the Night, in which the the final days of humanity arrived when, in every city and town, a forest grew overnight to take back the Earth.

The episode, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce,e, had a 21.6% share of the total TV audience, making Doctor Who the third most watched programme behind Strictly and The X Factor.

“Tiger, tiger, burning bright…” Click here to return to the forest in our discussion.

The final UK rating for Mummy on the Orient Express has been revealed.

The eighth episode of the current series, which aired on BBC One on 11th October, was watched by an official audience of 7.11 million viewers.

As usual, it’s another considerable rise from the 5.04 million people who watched it live, as the consolidated figure includes those who recorded the episode and watched it within the first 7 days of its transmission.

The episode holds the record for having the latest start time for Doctor Who, premiering on BBC One at 8:37pm. Find out more about the adventure in our episode guides, here.

Smaller on the outside? Click here to rate and discuss the latest Series 8 episode.

An audience of 4.55 million people tuned in for the latest episode of Doctor Who on BBC One last night, according to the overnight ratings.

19.9% of the total television audience joined Clara in Flatline as she discovered a new menace from another dimension.

Doctor Who was the third most watched programme of the day, once again falling behind Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor, which were watched by 9.03 million and 7.71 million viewers, respectively.

The final consolidated rating for the episode will be released by BARB in the next 7 days.

Smaller on the outside? Click here to rate and discuss the latest Series 8 episode.