June 1st, 2010
34 comments
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The Hungry Earth Final Ratings
Final viewing figures for Matt Smiths Eighth story, The Hungry Earth show that the story achieved a Total Rating of 6.5m viewers (inc Hd)
6.01 Million viewers watched on BBC1 whilst a further 0.48 million watched on the BBC HD channel
This represents a time shift of nearly 2 million.
Overnight viewing figures were 4.5m viewers (inc Hd ) with a 32.2% audience share.
Totals so far…
The Eleventh Hour 10.08 million
The Beast Below 8.4 million
Victory of the Daleks 8.2 million
The Time of Angels 8.6 million
Flesh and Stone 8.5 million
The Vampires of Venice 7.7 million
Amy’s Choice 7.5m
The Hungry Earth 6.5m
Source: BARB
The Doctor Who Site
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RedBlu
June 2nd, 2010 - 6:48pmYes, we need to put this in perspective…
…the average viewing figures for this season are up by 0.9million on last!!!
9.1 -> 10.8 +1.7
9.0 -> 8.4 -0.6
7.5 -> 8.2 +0.7
7.06 -> 8.59 +1.53
6.53 -> 8.6 +2.07
7.33 -> 7.68 +0.35
8.41 -> 7.5 -0.91
6.27 -> 6.5 +0.23
Total + 6.77
Average: +0.85million
Honestly, you can keep lying to yourselves, painting it to suit you, but the numbers speak for themselves
Rassilon’s Tomb
June 2nd, 2010 - 11:23am“Although the Hungry Earth ‘ratings’ wern’t amazing, the ‘final ratings’ were subarb!”
neal
June 2nd, 2010 - 4:17amas a long standing whovian i survived the original series including most of mcoy and the movie, i am loath to say that i am no longer watching and fool yourself as much as you like it is not the weather making people not watch it is just that the show is flat dull no edge sence of tension even a little heart jolting fear to make you hide behind the sofa so i am sad to say good bye Dr (until the stories pick up). ps change back the daleks they haven’t realy changed since created and for good reason they worked!.
Thetasigma
June 1st, 2010 - 7:09pmGuys, we need to put the viewing figures and AI in tandom here. For all the good AI ratings (and yes your right they have all been very good), the viewing figures are showing a steady decline since the start of the series. What ever we say, sadly that viewing decline speaks volumes and shows that people are leaving the show. While I agree that The hungry earth and Cold blood have been the very best of the season so far, its becoming more and more obvious that only hard and fast DW fans are now sticking with it. And the sad truth is that even if the AI stays as high as it is, the viewing Figures ARE important. The BBC are not going to keep a show running thats only being watched by mimimal viewers, whatever those watching think of the show ! Lets hope the season finale can bring back some of the lost viewers and Next season is a vast improvement on this one !
someone
June 1st, 2010 - 2:02pmdoesn’t anybody remeber the silence in the library ratings were 6.27million but the AI was 89/100.
someone
June 1st, 2010 - 12:42pmwith comparison, this episode is lower than any other episode – but the real measurable figure is the AI – which for this episode is excellent, for this series doctor who has been either nearlry excellent or excellent ie 85 is excellent. I donnot consider the ratings but the episode so far this for me is one of the best series for doctor who and matt smith is great and eccentric as the doctor.
Hector Sadler
June 1st, 2010 - 12:04pmThe latest Episode is lower then the previous Dr Who episodes. I very dissappointed.
Rian
May 29th, 2010 - 11:26pmRe Cats
100% fully agree
I stopped watching after the first episode. I tried to watch again with the weeping Angels eps. Bored me to tears. Used to love the show with 9 and 10. It’s a shame how it went down with poor casting.
Butler
May 28th, 2010 - 9:19pmI’ve read this story, its called Artemis Fowl. Well done on the thievery bbc.
someone
May 28th, 2010 - 5:07pmi thought that the episode was an amazing return for the silurians, cant wait for this weeks. the weather has had an effect with the rating, i wasnt going to watch doctor who last week since my exams were coming up, but managed to give myself a break to watch and i’m not regreting it. i think that’s why the rating lost out, because of one audience – being it teenagers – not watching it due to the exams. this week’s episode will have higher ratings.
whoknows
May 27th, 2010 - 5:03pmIt was the weather, hands down. I had to drag myself in, if I wasn’t a Whovian I wouldn’t have done at all. And Radio Ties should have had a cover, that would have increased it by loads. Still, a good episode!
Alex
May 24th, 2010 - 9:39pmJust to follow on on from my comment earlier, the AI numbers are in and the show hit 86 again (higher than Amy’s Choice). And the overnight viewing share for DW remained at about 32%.
Neil
May 24th, 2010 - 11:51amWhy don`t the Beeb just use a little grey matter and put Who back on during the darker evenings,where it would work even better!.
pc
May 24th, 2010 - 2:59amDon’t panic! you know what we Brits are like when the sun comes out for any signiificant amount of time, it always happens that we just have to ignore the TV and go outside and have some fun!
Yes i can say the figures are poor but i do not put it down to a poor script or anything on that league, it is just weather related!
I have to agree the Radio times has shot itself in the foot not advertising the Silurians like they have done with the Daleks recently, maybe this would have sparked a greter interest to stay in with a few tins instead of hitting the pubs??
Alex
May 24th, 2010 - 12:21amRe: Cats. I was waiting for someone to use this excuse. The reality is ratings are not an indicator in the slightest of quality. If you believe it is, then you must say that Firefly was a bad show (actually, you might – not everyone loves it!) because it was cancelled due to low ratings. The number that matters is the AI figures. If they come back with a low number, then we know the episode (not the show, the episode) didn’t meet with people’s approval. Until that happens, the ratings numbers don’t mean much. They are also rather meaningless for a network that doesn’t rely on advertising. They know there’ll be huge time-shifting, DVD sales, downloads, international sales, etc. If the show stars scoring DW Confidential-style numbers, then I start worrying. Until then the ratings don’t mean squat, and they certainly don’t indicate that people think the show is feeling “fake” and all that. If they are, explain the 84-86 average AI numbers to me. I agree with other people’s statements that the show would do better airing in the fall. It would also probably do better if the BBC actually gave it a regular timeslot.
MaxRide101
May 23rd, 2010 - 11:11pmBaz: I’ve read the Artemis Fowl books, and yeah, it seems similar to the books…aside from the whole scaly-green-swallow-you-from-below thing. The underground city looked a LOT like a medieval Haven to me.
Baz
May 23rd, 2010 - 8:31pmPerhaps my taste in fiction is a little odd but I feel that the Hungry Earth story bore a few similarities to the series of books on Artemis Fowl, written by Eoin Colfer. Does anyone who has read these books agree with me…?
booboo
May 23rd, 2010 - 8:08pmI must admit i was quite shocked when i first saw the ratings but looking at it closely the early evening was terrible in general, i mean really bad.
The share is about the same as last week. I look forward to the timeshift on this one.
King Ninja
May 23rd, 2010 - 7:30pmIt must also be pointed out that during the Russel T Davies eara the sontarans got a cover of their own when they returned on the Radio Times. And loads of pages about them inside. So…what about the silurians? Classic old villians? Hardly anything. The buzz just was not created before hand. I bet that if kids (small and big) had a silurian cover to salivate over all week- more viewers. Come on! Most kids hadn’t even heard of the cybermen before they returned (or the daleks for that matter)but their first episodes rated highly when it came to broadcast. Why did they tune in? Radio Times…you know what needs to be done. enough blaspheme and get back to yelling your heads off about Dr Who.
King Ninja
May 23rd, 2010 - 7:20pmNo,Cats. Overall the series so far has achieved very high ratings rivaling that of the Russel T Davis eara. Russel did an excellent job of bringing back Dr Who and had his own unique style of writing. Steven has his. If new Who writers don’t keep the show changing then, sadly, there is only so long the program can last. Many things get remakes these days. They have to completely rearange the format to bring their shows up to date. Dr Who has survived about (correct me if I’m wrong) 50 years- that, with no remakes, new origin stories or reliance on completely changing the format. Every episode still gets around 8 million viewers. Yesterday was really, really, really hot. Any sensible perason who is not completey ott about dr Who (such as my self)would not have sat in watching tv. I only did because I really, really love that show…and I stuck around for confidential as well (despite roasting in the warmth). This, I garentee, is a one off. Say, around 6-7 million next time? Maybe higher?
Paul
May 23rd, 2010 - 7:14pmI loved the Hungry Earth Story.. I think the rating would be much higher if the show was put out from october leading up towards Christmas ,instead of summer weeks. Rating might stay at under 5 million because of all the viewers going on holiday.
At Christmas the ratings are very high, why not put the show out in the winter weeks, when its dark and gloomy.
Cats
May 23rd, 2010 - 6:29pmExcuses, excuses. I think the audience might be shrinking because everything feels so fake now. Matt has been great in other things and isn’t terrible here but his patently false old man act keeps the Doctor from feeling real. Karen can’t act. The character of Rory reminds me of that geek in the otherwise amazing Blink. He’d never have gotten the girl if the script hadn’t forced her to take him. The scripts feel fake too often now, pushing the characters to do things they wouldn’t in real life. And the reduced special effects budget means that the sci fi feels fake as well. The show used to actually scare me sometimes and often make me laugh. Now I can see how a child might still find it scary and funny but I don’t. Because it lacks the strong acting and compelling emotional core of the program I fell in love with, it leaves me cold. At first I suspected that Moffat was doing this on purpose. I thought he’d tossed me and my kind out of the clubhouse and pulled up the rope ladder to please the “real” audience and attract more of them. I thought, Ok, if the program loses a few hundred thousand old ladies and gains a couple million adolescent boys and men, I can see why he’d want to do that. Who can blame him? But as the audience shrinks I’m starting to think it’s not deliberate after all. SM looked so tall when he was standing on RTD’s shoulders. Now that RTD is gone, Moffat’s a lot shorter than we all thought.
Ian
May 23rd, 2010 - 4:32pmI had hoped that after the series 4 gap year they’d have brought it back in January – that’s when Doctor Who should be on, when it’s dark outside (and not competing with ITV has they put the big shows on to chase Xmas advertising..)
Thetasigma
May 23rd, 2010 - 3:43pmThe truth is the ratings were poor, what ever we put it down to. I agree that the brilliant weather wont have helped but I cant help thinking that the series up to last night has simply not lived up to expectations, and I wonder if patience is running out now. A pitty if it is, as last night’s ep was without a doubt the very best of the series so far (despite the 2nd rate silurian costume !) and next weeks looks to be even better…I’ll be tuned in and I think the figures will rise again, once news of last nights fantastic ep gets out !
PETER
May 23rd, 2010 - 2:57pmYep the weather was def to blame for the lower viewing figures, I personally thought it was a great episode meself.
Dr why
May 23rd, 2010 - 2:24pmWhy not return to a autumn timedlot- guarateed 2 million increase in viewership?
Bad Wolf
May 23rd, 2010 - 2:06pmIt was 5th most watched for the day behind casualty, national lottery and two episodes of over the rainbow
Bad Wolf
May 23rd, 2010 - 2:05pmBehind casualty and the national lottery, ouch, the bbc need to sort out this stupid timeslot or maybe people are getting tired after five years of the same thing
dylan
May 23rd, 2010 - 1:29pmIt is actually quite alot seeing as it was a 32.2% of the audiance share. So it was the most watched programme of the day and WAS due too the great weather.
Joe
May 23rd, 2010 - 10:51amnot alot this week.