Last Night's Doctor Who Was Lowest Rated Of Jodie Whittaker's Run
The Doctor is back... but with over 3 million less viewers than Whittaker's first full episode.
Despite receiving plentiful praise on social media from the majority of viewers, last night’s Doctor Who episode is the lowest rated episode since Jodie Whittaker took over as the Doctor.
The overnight ratings are now in – courtesy of Radio Times – and the Series 12 premiere offering was viewed by 4.9 million. In comparison, the debut episode of Series 11 pulled in a vastly different 8.2 million viewers.
When looking back at Series 11, the lowest rating of Whittaker’s first season as the Doctor was the ninth episode – It Takes You Away – which aired on December 2, 2018 and pulled in an initial 5.1 million.
What this 4.9 million rating for last night’s episode obviously doesn’t take into account are catch-up numbers from people who choose to watch the show on-demand. As such, it’s expected that Spyfall, Part 1 is certain to experience at least a mild increase in overall numbers over the next few days and weeks.
To give some context on this Series 12 premiere number, the first fantastic part of the BBC’s three-part Dracula only managed 3.6 million viewers.
The ratings winner from New Year’s Day was actually Emmerdale, which was watched by 5 million viewers. Doctor Who came in at a respectable second place, with Coronation Street the third most-watched show with 4.87 million, and EastEnders fourth with 4.5 million.
Doctor Who will continue its Series 12 with Spyfall, Part on Sunday at 7pm on BBC One.