BBC America found good medicine with "Doctor Who" Saturday night. Cabler scored the biggest numbers in its history with "Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars."
Special delivered 1.1 million viewers over three airings and set a record in the 25-54 demo with 663,000 viewers.
via Variety.
This show is a monster in the UK…I’m glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves this side of the pond. I figure one reason for the bump up in viewership is the fact that they closed the gap a little more in terms of the UK and US airdates, it was only about 3 weeks this time instead of the months it usually takes. The final 2 David Tennant specials in the next week or so only have a one day lag, so I’ll be curious to see what kind of numbers they pull. I would think the shorter window alleviates some of the potential viewership loss to torrenting…even though they trim the broadcasts ever so slightly for over here. I usually do both, I watch on BBCA over here out of loyalty to the network and because my “boy scout conscience” knows it’s the right thing to do, but I also get the torrents or DVDs because I hate missing the cuts, even if it’s inconsequential or only a line. Great show though…most of the British imports are.
Given that
1) This is David Tennant’s final bow on this show
2) There are some significant, popular characters from the past in the pending two stories
3) There is only the one-day lag as noted by Tom M above
4) And there are also apparently rebroadcasts of all of the previous Christmas specials during the week AND rebroadcasts of this year’s other specials (Planet of the Dead, Waters of Mars) on the BBCA schedule in the coming days
I am all but certain that another press release noting new viewing records being set will be dispatched not long after December 26th and January 2nd for the BBCA. Fans of Doctor Who and/or David Tennant — Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and enjoy the buffet!
Hey Tom M not to burst your bubble but unless you have a Nielsen box your doing “the right” thing will not have any effect on the ratings/money that BBC America receives. The best way to support your favourite TV shows is buying the boxsets etc. But I have to admit it’s nice that people do think about these things (and if you have a Nielsen box woot! that’s really cool).
For Canadians, if you haven’t heard, they’ll be airing the final 2 specials, back-to-back, January 2nd on SPACE, preceded by a Doctor Who “buffet”. It’ll be a bitter-sweet day.
Before the airing of Waters of Mars Saturday night, Space had a telephone interview with Russell T Davies, and it seems Space will also air the new season sometime in the spring, so it looks like Canadians will see it shortly after it airs in the UK.
Waters of Mars was the best of the specials, and wonderful performances from Tennant and Lindsay Duncan.
It’s not an American viewing record for “Doctor Who,” since the show scored higher ratings on the Sci-Fi Channel — it averaged 1.5 million viewers the first year, for example — but it’s a ratings record for BBC America.
Back when I first heard they were only going to film several big Doctor Who movies rather than a whole new season I was a little disappointed, but much like Torchwood: Children of Earth, this format has really worked. The stories are tighter, grander, and more interesting. I thought Waters of Mars was particularly good with an ending, I have to admit, that was surprising. Matt Smith may turn out to be a good Doctor, but David Tennant leaves big shoes to fill. IMHO he’s been the best Doctor since Tom Baker.
I saw Waters of Mars long ago anyway, and legally: Nov. 29, at a convention in Chicago, two weeks after its original airdate in the UK. I’m watching only because I’m so glad the Tenth Doctor is finally leaving! The writing for this character has been worse and worse the longer he’s been around, and his current hubris tremendously annoys me. I also hope when Matt Smith is around, the show’s “Rose obsession” finally, finally DIES. Then I can back to enjoying the show.
Lisa the Moffat helmed season next year shouldn’t dissapoint you if the snipits I’ve seen are anything to go by. Whether it can sustain that for the entire season and beyond remains to be seen though, the chemistry between the new Doctor and companion is fantastic though.
On another note, The End of Time two-parter is awful. I suspect it’ll do huge numbers in the UK and then for BBCA but it really shouldn’t. Its everything that’s been wrong with the show turned up to full volume.
I hate that BBC America now has the rights to air Doctor Who in the States because it is a channel I do not get!
Doghouse Reilly, do you have Comcast by any chance? Because Comcast On Demand still shows a few episodes of Doctor Who and a new one gets added periodically; currently I believe it’s on season 2.
It may be a record, but damn thats small numbers.
When BBCA premiered S1 & S2 of Torchwood in late 2007 and early 2008, they aired numerous commercials claiming that it set records with 1.5 million viewers, but not Waters of Mars has set a record with 1.1 million viewers??? Also, Multichannel reported back in July that the first night of Torchwood: Children of Earth had a total of 1.4 million viewers for its three airings, which is also more than Waters of Mars. Way to rewrite history, BBCA.
And note that BBCA gets its “records” by totaling the viewers for the three Saturday airings. When Doctor Who S4 aired on Sci-Fi in 2008, the viewing figures for just the 9pm airing ranged from 1-1.5 million. Based on past BBCA numbers I’ve seen, the 9pm airing of Waters of Mars probably had about 750,000-800,000 viewers. This totaling of multiple airings is pure marketing spin.
Sorry, that should say “…but now Waters of Mars has set a record…”
UKTV Fan as the quoted text in the original post says, the record was set in the 25-54 demo and not total viewers.
Dr. Who is definitely an acquired taste. I happen to like it quite a bit. I’m guessing BBC America doesn’t get seen in as many households as SyFy.
There have been some really good science fiction/fantasy on BBC America lately. Torchwood & Being Human were very good as was the newest version of Life on Mars. Torchwood: Children of Earth which ran during the summer was on several critics best shows of the year.
@AZTop
“There have been some really good science fiction/fantasy on BBC America lately.”
Then you’ll want to avoid DEMONS when it premieres the first week of January. It’s TERRIBLE!!!
I saw a preview of Demons. It seems to be sort of a knock off of Supernatural.
It’s nice BBCA cares enough to push & tout numbers. That’s good for The Doctor. Watching on cable should help numbers. I think cable providers can tell how much resources (bandwidth?) each channel uses and when. Not who watches, but how many connections for sure.
Demons is typical ITV crap we have here which is why we watch so much American content. BBC didn’t have anything to do with it, Apparitions which aired on BBC at the same-ish time and of a similar-ish genre was much much better.
I personally liked “Demons”. It was good cheesy hokey fun like “Primeval” and Doctor Who”. I like light stuff as well as the dark. Not everything has to be top notch and very dark. Even though ITV cancelled the show their still a chance pack BBc America can o-produce a second season. Since that’s what they are obviously aiming for. Why else air a canceled series and heavily promote it and not have some sort of contigency plan to continue it if it pulls decent ratings( by BBC america standards). They did this by renewing Primeval.