Doctor Who Series Eleven premiere watched by over eight million viewers

The new series of Doctor Who got off to a very strong start, as it was watched by over eight million viewers in the UK on Sunday.

Sunday night was a big night for Doctor Who audiences. In fact, it seemed to be a big night for those who don’t regularly watch the show, too. At least, if the overnight figures of The Woman Who Fell to Earth are anything to go by.

Today, it’s been reported that Doctor Who has had its highest viewing figures for a launch in over ten years. The last time ratings had been this high was with Partners in Crime in 2008, which had 8.4 milllion viewers.

It’s also the highest we’ve seen for a “new Doctor” episode since the show came back. While it doesn’t quite beat Eccleston’s opening episode Rose, which kicked off with almost 10 million viewers, Whittaker’s opening episode has beaten all other new Doctor debuts, including Tennant’s, Smith’s and Capaldi’s.

The Woman Who Fell to Earth had the highest number of viewers for a Doctor’s debut since the episode Rose with Christopher Eccleston. But why?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Why the high number of viewers?

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There could be several reasons why the ratings are so high. Firstly, and for the most obvious, there’s Jodie Whittaker’s casting. The first woman in almost five and a half decades to play the Doctor, that was bound to attract more attention from viewers.

People could be intrigued, they could be skeptical, they could even think it’s the worst decision ever. But in all these cases, people were bound to be curious, which gave us higher ratings than normal.

There’s also the move to Sundays, which has probably helped, too. As much as I love Saturdays for the show, I must admit that moving to Sundays, when more people are likely to stay in, has probably helped. Especially as it was broadcast at the perfect time, too: early enough in the evening for the kids to watch, but just about late enough that it’ll start to get dark during the show. I hope it maintains that timeslot, or at least, something very close to it.

Over the coming weeks, it’s unlikely that it’ll maintain ratings quite this high. There’s usually an increase in viewers curious about the new Doctor, after all, before a small dip in viewers.

This was especially true in Eccleston’s series. While Rose began with incredibly impressive viewing figures, there was a sharp decrease with the following episode, The End of the World. However, Doctor Who was still a ratings hit that night at 7.97 million viewers.

Regardless of whether the ratings decrease or not, this is still a great start for Series Eleven. Hopefully, the series will continue to be a ratings hit and we are given more strong episodes as the show goes on.

Are you glad that The Woman Who Fell to Earth has had such strong ratings? Do you think that Doctor Who will continue to receive a high number of viewers watching every week? Let us know in the comments below.