I’m growing rather bored of the doomsayers in certain areas of the media / twitter telling us how lower viewing figures for Doctor Who mean the end of the world. They even tell us it means Jodie Whittaker and/ or Chris Chibnall have killed the show. Well, thanks very much to DigitalSpy for adding some much needed context and prompting mu positive click-bait title. Their piece is How’s Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who *actually* doing so far? Go read. I’ve summarised a couple of points below…

Thirteenth Doctor series 11 ratings (so far)

The debut

The Woman Who Fell to Earth was a massive ratings success. I’ve taken some numbers from The Telegraph: Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who a ratings hit with highest launch in 10 years. Here’s the detail for as broadcast viewers (consolidated care of DoctorWhoTV):

Christopher Eccleston: 9.9 million average (consolidated 10.81)

David Tennant: 8 million average (DoctorWhoTV has 9.4 rising to 9.84)

Matt Smith: 7.7 million average (DoctorWhoTV has 8 rising to 10.08)

Peter Capaldi: 6.9 million average (DoctorWhoTV has 6.79 rising to 9.17)

Jodie Whittaker: 8.2 million average (consolidated to 10.54 million).

The first half of series 11

All new Doctors have had a dip following their first episode. What’s interesting here is the context, percentage of audience and chart position. The series is scoring well against other big shows such as Strictly and is in the top 10 for every week so far (and mostly top 5). As DigitalSpy reports, other Doctors did far less well in their first (or only) series:

Christopher Eccleston average chart position 17

David Tennant average chart position 13

Matt Smith 12

Peter Capaldi generally fared poorly and his final series averaged outside the top 20

The conclusion

When you read these headlines, look for context and look for agenda. For me I’m celebrating a great new Doctor smashing the ratings. Next argument: Christmas vs New Year’s Day!