2 million fewer viewers

[Mister Spock]

I like the old system, I much prefer a six month cliffhanger leading into a Christmas special, then a new series three months later.

Now, we're basically getting it all within a five month period, leaving us a nine month wait between seasons.

 

[Guy Gardener]

NuWho + Torchwood + Sarah Jane = No Downtime.

THOSE were the days.

 

[RoJoHen]

Now, we're basically getting it all within a five month period, leaving us a nine month wait between seasons.

Which I think probably contributes to the lower ratings, honestly. The longer you have to wait, especially when you weren't super thrilled with the previous season, the less excited you get. I know I had almost no feelings about this season of Doctor Who; I had almost completely lost interest because I had been forced to wait so long. I'm watching it now more out of obligation than anything.

 

[Stevil2001]

I like the old system, I much prefer a six month cliffhanger leading into a Christmas special, then a new series three months later.

Now, we're basically getting it all within a five month period, leaving us a nine month wait between seasons.

Anyone remember Moffat's words promoting the split Series 6? 'You'll never go more than three months between Doctor Who episodes!' Didn't quite work out.

 

[The Wormhole]

I like the old system, I much prefer a six month cliffhanger leading into a Christmas special, then a new series three months later.

Now, we're basically getting it all within a five month period, leaving us a nine month wait between seasons.

Anyone remember Moffat's words promoting the split Series 6? 'You'll never go more than three months between Doctor Who episodes!' Didn't quite work out.

As I keep saying every time this issue is brought up, we have in fact ended up with longer gaps than we had during Tennant's supposed "gap year" in 2009.

The longest gap between episodes during the RTD era was seven months between Planet of the Dead and Waters of Mars. Since then we have had two eight month gaps between The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe and Asylum of the Daleks and between Time of the Doctor and Deep Breath and now a nine month gap between Last Christmas and The Magician's Apprentice. And if the rumours do pan out, we'll end up with a full twelve month gap between this year's Christmas special and next year's.

 

[Photoman15]

And if the rumours do pan out, we'll end up with a full twelve month gap between this year's Christmas special and next year's.

They'll always be a twelve month gap between the current years Christmas special and next year's Christmas special. Were you trying to get that by

 

[StCoop]

Ooh, so Moffat's been getting stroppy with fans asking him what's happening next year at the Doctor Who Festival. Seriously, he can't have thought the question wouldn't be asked or is he just totally deluded.

 

[tomalak301]

The whole thing seems like a mess. I miss the clock work regiment of RTD's era.

April to June/ July

Christmas special

April to June/July

Part of me wishes it went back to this. Easter is a boring holiday but for a few years it was more exciting as it was Doctor Who time. There was also a bit less competition on tv at that time.

I like that to the point of getting a nice two hour block on BBC America with Doctor Who and then Orphan Black. I loved that schedule that year.

 

[Mr Soak]

The Magician's Apprentice 847,000 (653,000)
The Witch's Familiar 734,000 (541,000)
Under the Lake 612,000 (428,000)
Before the Flood 660,000 (511,000)
The Girl Who Died 644,000 (601,000)
The Woman Who Lived 647,000 (493,000)
The Zygon Invasion tba (430,000)
The Zygon Inversion tba (466,000)

The Zygon Invasion 593,000 (430,000)
...
Sleep No More tba (506,000)

 

[StCoop]

Updated with Episode 8:

The Magician's Apprentice 6.54m 8th
The Witch's Familiar 5.71m 17th
Under The Lake 5.63m 17th
Before The Flood 6.05m 14th
The Girl Who Died 6.56m 13th
The Woman Who Lived 6.11m 15th
The Zygon Invasion 5.76m 20th
The Zygon Inversion 6.03m 15th

Sleep No More was 4m on transmission. (Actually that's the average; it dropped 1/2 a million viewers over its running time.)

****

So with three episodes left to go in Series 9 where does the show stand?

Barring any last-minute miracles; lowest average ratings, audience share, chart position and Audience Appreciation Index.*

Doctor Who is one of the BBC's biggest Cash Cows and if that's to continue something's going to have to be done, the question is what?

My solution? Scrap the Series 10 plans and have six episodes and a Christmas Special next year then Moffat and Capaldi are gone.

Don't finish that Regeneration though because we'll skip 2017 and not have the series back until Spring 2018 with a new Doctor, Companion, Showrunner and everything else.

Don't slavishly imitate the past but learn lessons from what made the series a success when it returned in 2005. Make it accessible to everybody** and prioritise character drama over pseudo-clever SF gimmicks.

It still might turn out that people just aren't interested any more but it'll give more of a fighting chance than coming back in early 2017 with 12 more episodes of the same-old same-old that hasn't worked this year.


*Excluding Series 1 which was calculated on a previous system so isn't directly comparable.

**TMA/TWF were basically the 21st Century equivalent of ‘Attack Of The Cyberman’; a story aimed purely at Fans (with a capital F) that required a working knowledge of 52 years of stories to fully understand.

 

[Mr Awe]

My solution? Scrap the Series 10 plans and have six episodes and a Christmas Special next year then Moffat and Capaldi are gone.

Don't finish that Regeneration though because we'll skip 2017 and not have the series back until Spring 2018 with a new Doctor, Companion, Showrunner and everything else.

Don't slavishly imitate the past but learn lessons from what made the series a success when it returned in 2005. Make it accessible to everybody** and prioritise character drama over pseudo-clever SF gimmicks.

I agree with almost everything here. Although you don't want to go too far with the character drama angle, otherwise it becomes like Voyager. But, a nice balance between characters and ST storytelling. At the very least, new SF tropes. That would be huge right there!

Mr Awe

 

[Starkers]

Of course lets not forget one of the main reasons the show was such a success when it returned in 2005.

It. Was. New.

It was fresh, it was different, large swathes of the audience had never seen Doctor Who, had probably never even heard of it. By all get rid of Capaldi, get rid of Moffat, bring in a whole new kit and caboodle, but it won't remotely have the clean slate RTD had back in 2005 and that has to be seen as a contributing factor to people getting tired of Dr Who.

And spare me "character drama" if it just means giving the companion a mum who's a bit of a harridan (not once, not twice, but three times!). I liked RTD Who, and I think he did a great job in bringing the show back, but by god by the time he left the show was looking tired and repetitious, Moffat has the opposite problem, he's tried to shake things up too many times and keep the show fresh which has led to shifting tones.

It is time for Moff to go, I would be tempted to hold onto Capaldi, at least for one more Moff-free series though.

 

[Squiggy]

It is time for Moff to go, I would be tempted to hold onto Capaldi, at least for one more Moff-free series though.

Agreed. I think Capaldi could really shine when he isn't weighed down by Moffatt's manic-Victorican-horror-monster of the week formula.

Also, Clara should be gone soon so that could shake things up as well.

 

[Starkers]

I think that's another thing that both RTD and Moffat era Who has suffered from on occasion, the notion that there has to be a monster every week. Oh for the odd historical or episode where the villains are just a bunch of human space pirates, or outlaws in the old west, or Vikings or...well anything really so long as they wren't "monsters"

 

[Mr Awe]

It. Was. New.

I definitely agree. It was new. Although, I do give RTD huge credit for making the nuWho palatable to both fans of the Classic series and new fans. That was hard to do and he did a fantastic job. So, it was new and it garnered lots of excitement, but there was also lots avenues towards failures that he avoided.

I enjoyed the RTD era and agree with your later point, he left at the right time.

It was fresh, it was different, large swathes of the audience had never seen Doctor Who, had probably never even heard of it. By all get rid of Capaldi, get rid of Moffat, bring in a whole new kit and caboodle, but it won't remotely have the clean slate RTD had back in 2005 and that has to be seen as a contributing factor to people getting tired of Dr Who.

I agree with that as well. But, I'd add that doesn't mean that the show can't reach new heights in terms of quality and ratings. It may be very difficult to do, but it's possible.

Just look at the Classic series. It had been around for over 10 years when Tom Baker took over, along with Hinchcliffe and Holmes. With the combined effort of their incredible talents they brought the show to new heights.

So, it's difficult, but possible with the right talent.

And spare me "character drama" if it just means giving the companion a mum who's a bit of a harridan (not once, not twice, but three times!).

Agreed. I always worry when someone wants a strong focus on "character drama". It's good to an extent but really shouldn't be the center point of Doctor Who. For example, I thought "Caretaker" went too far down that path.

It is time for Moff to go, I would be tempted to hold onto Capaldi, at least for one more Moff-free series though.

Totally agree. I love Capaldi in the role and hope he stays around for a bit longer, at least one Moff-free series.

Mr Awe

 

[StCoop]

I love Capaldi in the role and hope he stays around for a bit longer, at least one Moff-free series.

I'd say most people feel the same.

But the sad reality is, if the Beeb want a quick way to refresh the show we could end up with Capaldi getting only one more episode after this year then, I dunno, Sheridan Smith as the new Doctor for Series 10.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Sadly, I can see the logic behind that. That would be the quickest, easiest way to refresh the show.

 

[RoJoHen]

I have to imagine it's somewhat awkward trying to crossover Companions with different regenerations of Doctors. Clara assumed a totally different personality when Capaldi showed up. They made a big deal at the end of "Deep Breath" to make Clara aware that he's the same person; the scene with Matt Smith calling her was one of my favorite scenes in the entire series.

But I just don't think Clara and Capaldi have meshed well. I don't blame the actors. I think they're both extremely talented. I just don't believe their relationship, and I believe it less and less as the show wears on.

The fact that Clara views the Doctor as a hobby that she can just pick up whenever she wants is absolutely ridiculous to me. At least with Amy and Rory it was because they were finally building a life on Earth and they realized it was too hard to do both, so they had to choose between married life and Doctor life.

Clara, in her first season, had the excuse of going back to take care of Angie and Arty. It was part of her introduction: You don't run out on the people you care about. But now...I just don't see any motivation for anything she does. She's become more of a set piece than a character, which is very disappointing.

So...I dunno. I think I'm ready for a mini reboot again. Doctor Who is the one show where I can say that without cringing. New season. New Doctor. New Companion.

I'd like Capaldi to wrap up the Gallifrey story in some kind of definite way (even if that means Gallifrey is still lost, that's fine, I just think that plot thread needs a bit of a conclusion), and then start fresh without any of the baggage from these characters or stories.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Doctor Who is one of the BBC's biggest Cash Cows and if that's to continue something's going to have to be done, the question is what?

My solution? Scrap the Series 10 plans and have six episodes and a Christmas Special next year then Moffat and Capaldi are gone.

Don't finish that Regeneration though because we'll skip 2017 and not have the series back until Spring 2018 with a new Doctor, Companion, Showrunner and everything else.

Don't slavishly imitate the past but learn lessons from what made the series a success when it returned in 2005. Make it accessible to everybody** and prioritise character drama over pseudo-clever SF gimmicks.

It still might turn out that people just aren't interested any more but it'll give more of a fighting chance than coming back in early 2017 with 12 more episodes of the same-old same-old that hasn't worked this year.

I could get behind this. When you write, "Don't finish that Regeneration though," do you mean that Capaldi finishes without a regeneration? Because that might be interesting -- leave an era open-ended, and pick up with a new Doctor at some indeterminate point in the future. In other words, not unlike the way "Rose" opened.

**TMA/TWF were basically the 21st Century equivalent of ‘Attack Of The Cyberman’; a story aimed purely at Fans (with a capital F) that required a working knowledge of 52 years of stories to fully understand.

I have to admit, there were times I wondered how much Ian Levine was involved in TMA/TWF.

 

[Starkers]

I love Capaldi in the role and hope he stays around for a bit longer, at least one Moff-free series.

I'd say most people feel the same.

But the sad reality is, if the Beeb want a quick way to refresh the show we could end up with Capaldi getting only one more episode after this year then, I dunno, Sheridan Smith as the new Doctor for Series 10.

I like Sheridan Smith a lot, and she is a good actress, but I don't see her as the Doctor.

One thing I wonder in all of this, do the BBC run focus groups/polling/whatever you want to call it. Is the AI just a single rating or is it broken down? I'd just be interested to see whether the BBC have data on what particular elements the viewers do/don't like. i.e. "I really like Capaldi but the episode sucked." or "The episode was really clever, shame about Peter Capaldi" that kind of thing.