10 False Doctor Who Facts You Probably Still Believe
9. The Paul McGann TV Movie Was A Flop
One of the laziest things trotted out about Doctor Who in the 1990s by American-centric pop-culture websites was that the Paul McGann TV Movie was a "flop".
It's true that, in the US, Doctor Who was overshadowed by an episode of the hugely popular sitcom Roseanne, meaning that it was watched by 5.6 million viewers – a 9% share of the viewing audience on the night.
However, that's not the full story.
In the UK, the TV Movie was a huge deal. There were midnight openings across the country so fans could purchase the new Doctor Who movie on VHS two weeks before it aired on BBC1. Despite this, it still garnered an impressive 9 million viewers upon its broadcast on 27 May 1996.
For context, that's not too far off the 10.81 million viewers who tuned into Rose in 2005, the success of which convinced the BBC that they had a mammoth hit on their hands.
The reason that the TV Movie is seen as a flop is because a series commission was reliant on it performing well in America, which sadly ignores its undeniable success on home soil.