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There was a little bit of hope around Doctor Who. After the Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker era was criticized for storylines that seemed more interested in pushing messages than fun and adventure, there were glimpses of a return to form in the Anniversary specials.
However, the much-vaunted return of the previous showrunner, Russell T. Davies, soon came under fire for the same reasons as the Chibnall era. As is now traditional, criticism was dismissed as a result of “toxic fans”, which did nothing to endear the new management and star to the fanbase.
The show, with the new Doctor in the form of Ncuti Gatwa, is also now being produced in partnership with Disney. This means it is available on the DIsney+ app and BBC iPlayer before the traditional Saturday evening broadcast time.
As a result, viewing habits around the show have shifted. There have been historically low ratings for the live broadcast. Fans have seized on this as proof the new version of the show is being rejected.
Not so, says showrunner Davies, viewing habits have just changed and it is all doing very nicely, thank you very much. Davies spoke about this during a BAFTA Q&A session and said:
“In coming back, I wanted to make it simpler and I wanted to make it younger. Those two things are often not discussed – you read reactions to it and people are missing that. It’s simpler and younger – and it is working.
The under-16s and the 16-34 audience as well is massive. It’s not doing that well in the ratings, but it is doing phenomenally well with the younger audience that we wanted.”
In a different interview, this time with Doctor Who TV (via Dark Horizons), he gave more details:
“They might not be the ratings we’d love. We always want higher. But they are building over the 28-day period. Episode one, ‘Space Babies,’ is already up to 5.6 million and counting. So it is getting there. And actually, I was brought back to bring in a younger audience. That’s been massively successful.
The audience no one ever gets are the under-30s. They just don’t watch television anymore. But those figures are astronomic for Doctor Who, it’s their top program in that bracket. I never thought it was possible, to be honest. But according to the people who juggle the numbers, all targets have been reached and exceeded. The BBC are running around like mad things.”
As of this moment, Doctor Who is not yet renewed beyond 2025, and the already completed second season with Gatwa in the TARDIS.
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