In the last few weeks, there have been some sensationalised reports about Doctor Who's falling ratings.
For example, on 28th September a report in the The Sun (a paper known for an anti-BBC bias) in reference to the series's second episode The Witch's Familiar, stated "During Saturday's show ratings dipped to a paltry 3.2 million — just topping its all-time low of 3.1 million in 1989 when it was eventually axed."
This was a misleading statement because they were comparing the final rating for Sylvester McCoy's Battlefield: Part One to the lowest point during the overnight rating for The Witch's Familiar.
Peter Capaldi's episode rose to a respectable 5.71 million once seven-day catch-up viewing rose added. Although this was the lowest episode rating since Doctor Who returned in 2005, it is important to remember that the episode was scheduled against the England vs Wales Rugby World Cup match.
While it is true that the Doctor Who ratings have gradually been dropping since their peak on New Year's Day 2010 (David Tennant's swansong), in relation to general television viewing, they remain very respectable. As audiences now have so much more choice in what they can watch compared to the analogue era in which the classic series aired, a better measure of the show's success is its chart position. So far every episode of Doctor Who since 2005 has rated in the weekly Top 30. As you can see from the table below, some 20th century Doctor Who episodes fell outside the Top 100:
Highest Rated Episode
|
Highest Charted
Episode
|
Lowest Rated
Episode
|
Lowest Charted
Episode
|
|
William Hartnell
|
The Web Planet (13.50m)
|
The Web Planet (7th)
|
The Smugglers: Episode 1 (4.30m)
|
The Smugglers: Episode 1 (109th)
|
Patrick Troughton
|
The
Krotons: Episode One (9.00m)
|
The Power
of the Daleks: Episode One (43rd)
|
The War Games: Episode Eight (3.50m)
|
The Space Pirates: Episode Six (98th)
|
Jon Pertwee
|
The Three Doctors: Episode Four (11.90m)
|
Planet of the Daleks: Episode One (9th)
|
Inferno: Episode 3 (4.80m)
|
The Time Warrior: Part Three (89th)
|
Tom Baker
|
City of Death: Part Four (16.10m) - HIGHEST EVER
|
The Ark in Space: Part Two (5th)
|
Full Circle: Part Two (3.70m)
|
Full Circle: Part Two (170th) - LOWEST EVER
|
Peter Davison
|
Castrovalva: Part Four (10.40m)
|
Time-Flight: Part One (26th)
|
Frontios: Part Four (4.60m)
|
Frontios: Part Four (115th)
|
Peter Davison (Special)
|
The Five Doctors (7.70m)
|
The Five Doctors (54th)
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Colin Baker
|
Attack of
the Cybermen: Part One (8.90m)
|
Attack of
the Cybermen: Part One (61st)
|
The Trial Of A Time Lord (The Mysterious Planet): Part Four
(3.70m)
|
The Mark of the Rani: Part One (111th)
|
Sylvester McCoy
|
Silver
Nemesis: Part One (6.10m)
|
Time and
the Rani: Part Three /
Paradise
Towers: Part Four (57th)
|
Battlefield: Part One (3.10m) - LOWEST EVER
|
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part Three (108th)
|
Paul McGann
|
The TV
Movie (9.08)
|
The TV
Movie (17th)
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Christopher Eccleston
|
Rose (10.81m)
|
Rose (7th)
|
Bad Wolf (6.81m)
|
The Empty Child (20th)
|
David Tennant
|
Journey's End (10.57m)
|
Journey's End (1st) -
HIGHEST EVER
|
The Satan Pit (6.08m)
|
Silence in the Library (27th)
|
David Tennant (Specials)
|
The End of
Time: Part Two (12.27m)
|
The End of
Time: Part One & Part Two (1st) -
HIGHEST EVER
|
The Runaway
Bride (9.38m)
|
The Runaway
Bride (10th)
|
Matt Smith
|
The Eleventh Hour (10.08m)
|
The Eleventh Hour (3rd)
|
The Lodger (6.44m)
|
Nightmare in Silver (22nd)
|
Matt Smith (Specials)
|
The Day of
The Doctor (12.80m)
|
The Doctor, The Widow and the
Wardrobe / The Day of
The Doctor / The Time of
the Doctor (3rd)
|
The Doctor,
The Widow and the Wardrobe (10.77m)
|
A Christmas
Carol (4th)
|
Peter Capaldi
|
Deep Breath (9.17m)
|
Deep Breath (2nd)
|
The
Witch's Familiar (5.71m)
|
The
Witch's Familiar (24th)
|
Peter Capaldi (Specials)
|
Last Christmas (8.28m)
|
Last Christmas (7th)
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Ratings statistics sourced from the Doctor Who Guide.
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