Doctor Who time-travels to late slot in Saturday night TV battle

[JoeZhang]

Doctor Who has been through many incarnations in its 51-year history but none quite so late as 8.30pm, where the show will move later this month in the latest twist in the Saturday night ratings war with ITV.

The time-travelling show, which made its eagerly anticipated return last month with Peter Capaldi in the lead role, has been moved to a later time to accommodate the new series of Strictly Come Dancing.

But it remains to be seen how the move, due on 27 September, will be seen by younger Whovians and their parents, with the show not finishing until 9.15pm in its new slot. Doctor Who will now be head to head with The X Factor.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/17/doctor-who-late-time-saturday-night

Just a PSA so nobody misses it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A later time slot should mean boobs and swearing.

But there isn't going to be any of that is there?

This is just like last Christmas when that fat git Santa left reindeer scat in my stockings.

 

[Starkers]

Well this means it'll be shown in the same slot that the last series of Merlin was aired (I think) and it was still popular. Obviously a large portion of the viewing figures are time shifted anyway.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Time shifted viewing scores different with the ratings?

 

[JoeZhang]

A later time slot should mean boobs and swearing.

But there isn't going to be any of that is there?

This is just like last Christmas when that fat git Santa left reindeer scat in my stockings.

That would need to be after 9pm in the UK, not 8.30pm - I guess you want this. (NSFW).

 

[Guy Gardener]

Why can't a TV show have a temporally sliding content warnings?

Good porn has 20 minutes of preamble before any one takes their clothes off.

Is Doctor who more insistent to take example from bad porn?

 

[MacLeod]

DW normally got a decent bump in the ratings due to timeshift viewers anyway so this might just mean a it might get a bigger one, or another way to look it at the Beeb have confidence that DW can compete against The X Factor or they are worried that the audiance for shows like The X-Factor and Strictly are the same. and don't want to lose audiance share.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Not buying it. The Vulcan science academy has determined time travel is impossible. Call me when they manage to time travel to an earlier slot.

 

[Relayer1]

Beginning of the end.

Less people are watching it.
But you've moved it to a bad slot !
But less people are watching it...

 

[Captaindemotion]

Won't matter to me as I always record it and watch if after the kids have gone to bed. Can't imagine that it'll make a massive difference to viewing figures (I hope). It gets a strong lead-in from one of those interchangeable reality/dancing/light entertainment shows anyway.

 

[MacLeod]

Converselt DW can act as a strong lead in.

 

[Starkers]

The timeslot didn't do either Merlin or Atlantis any harm (despite Atlantis being shite)

 

[Guy Gardener]

Don't be an Atlantis apologist.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Huh, weird that The Guardian is saying the reason for the time move is for ratings against ITV. Doctor Who TV reports (minor spoilers for the next four episodes but the site spoiler codes them) that the newest issue of the Doctor Who Magazine claims BBC has required "Mummy on the Orient Express" to be shown at a later time slot because they thought it was too scary. Maybe both are happening?

 

[Timewalker]

Why can't a TV show have a temporally sliding content warnings?

Good porn has 20 minutes of preamble before any one takes their clothes off.

Is Doctor who more insistent to take example from bad porn?

You want Doctor Who porn? Read some fanfic. Some of that is rather explicit.

 

[Jax]

Remember the good old days 7pm. BBC always moved around Doctor Who to accommodate everything else, quite annoying to be honest.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Doctor Who has been through many incarnations in its 51-year history but none quite so late as 8.30pm

Apart from May 27th 1996, when the TV movie made its UK début at 8:30pm.

 

[Lonemagpie]

That's Atlantis's timeslot, which will take over from DW in November - and also the Strictly episodes get shorter as the season goes on, so by later October, DW will have fallen back to 8PM

 

[MacLeod]

Remember the good old days 7pm. BBC always moved around Doctor Who to accommodate everything else, quite annoying to be honest.

Sci-Fi has always seem to get the short end on the Beeb, whether it being delayed for sports etc..

 

[Shawnster]

8:30pm is really a late timeslot in the UK? Geez, here in the States, prime time starts at 8pm. Most family shows are on in the 8 to 9 pm timeslot.