Hmm…. bit disappointing for the second episode.

Hmm..not the best ratings, but the football and Harry Potter were on at the same time so it’s ok! I’m sure there will be better ratings next week with the Daleks!!!

You always get a drop off for the second ep of a season. How does it compare with all the other second eps of the previous 4 seasons? That’s what you really want to see to put these ratings into persepctive.

A bit disappointing, but I suppose people are not used to Matt’s Doctor yet, it takes time to get fond of his style. Hopefully as the series progresses, the viewing figures will shoot up. Episode 3 certainly looks like a good episode.

@Franz

Viewing figures from series 1-4 episode 2’s:

The End of the World (S1): 9.2 million viewers
Tooth and Claw (S2): 9.24 million viewers
The Shakespere Code (S3): 7.2 million viewers
The Fires of Pompei (S4): 8.5 million viewers

So there has been a dip over the previous series. This is a disappointing rating especially after a strong start (ratings wise)but i mainly blame the gorgeous weather outside, the time slot and the grand national.

I agree with Pirko; the dodgy timeslot will be an issue; but the biggest one will no doubt be the fact that this has been the first hot weekend of the year; a lot of people wouldn’t have been sat in front of their TV screens. Let’s see how it fares as the series goes on. And will someone at the BBC see sense and return Who to it’s seven p.m. slot! Why so early, and why a different start time every week? It’s crazy!

The BBC should give the show a decent time slot, however we should also bear in mind that these are only overnights. The final viewing figures usually go up by around 1 million!

The Shakespeare Code had a similar overnight figure (6.8 million) and went up to 7.2 million – in a later time slot!

The BBC not giving their flagship show (Eastenders, aside) a fixed time slot of 7pm on Saturday evenings is utter lunacy!

Why are they taking risks with a programme they have made countless millions from via merchandise and books? They possibly assume people will watch anyway but I’ve heard stories already of people missing the debut broadcast of Ep1 because they thought it started at 7!

They messed around with time slots etc in the 80s too, and we all know what, ultimately, happened there.

Why do people think the ratings are bad? Most watched programme of the day is awesome news!

I try and ignore ratings personally. I know Doctor Who is a great show, and I always wonder if the emphasis on ratings could impact Doctor Who, either budget-wise or even BBC support-wise, and although it’s cool when a lot of other people watch the show as well, I actually only care if I watched and enjoyed the show.

On another note, the Doctor Who theme was on Points of View today, a load of people complained about it and the Doctor Who team just said that they changed the theme like they changed the rest and that was about it.

@JC

I know. I watched points of view myself. I did find the team’s response a bit snobby. I mean good for them for making the step to change the music but they could have responded to the complaints better.

@Franz
Tooth and Claw series 2 episode 2 got over 9 million

To be the most watched programme yesterday is no mean feat – BUT 6.7 million is not huge and doesn’t compare favourably with previous series (other than series 3’s second episode). As I’ve suggested elsewhere on these boards, the BBC only have themselves to blame. To put out your crown jewel of a drama series at 6.15pm, against live football on the other side AND on a warm, sunny day is broadcasting suicide. Why not swap the slots for the dismal Over the Rainbow and Doctor Who? They would be doing both a favour. If Doctor Who had been put out at 7pm last night, it would have secured a higher figure (a) as it’s later and (b) it only had a Harry Potter repeat to contend with. The BBC won’t listen, of course. As their response to criticism of the theme tune suggests, our views don’t matter. Just watch those ratings tumble: foolish BBC.

Like M Smith, love K Gillan, wow!!! Lucky Doctor! V good partnership forming there. Enjoyed both the episodes shown so far, though the Smilers seemed less scary when they started to walk. Enjoyed the scenes where Amy was floating in space within the air-shell; reminded me of W Padbury on the console of the TARDIS slowly rotating in space after it had broken-up, back in the late 60s. On the negative side, the Doctor relies far too much on his sonic screwdriver to help him get out of tricky situations. And I agree with TWWL – 7 pm is better.

@Jay
Putting it up against the football did it a favour: the footie got around 3 million, Doctor Who got 6.7 million.

@TE
OK, I wasn’t aware of that. So Doctor Who trounced itv which is great BUT it can still do better than 6.7 million.

Anyone notice the official figures for Ep1? Big jump up to almost 11 million; no doubt Beast will see a higher final figure too.