It’s All In The Viewing Figures: a brief article by: GF Willmetts.
It was reported in British newspapers that the ‘Doctor Who’ story from 19 January 2020, ‘Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror’, had the lowest recorded viewing figures of 4 million people. This was attributed by the BBC to its subject matter and ‘relevancy’ issues.
I’m less sure about that and I don’t think it’s necessarily a representation of the world-wide viewing figures. However, I do recognise that many of you don’t necessarily get your Time Lord fix by watching the traditional television, more so as there several other ways to do it on the Internet which are not monitored.
That is irrelevant to the number-crunchers at the BBC. All they see is lower TV viewing figures as not being healthy. Although all the episodes are now in the bag and nothing can be changed for this season, if these lower figures persist then they will want a shake-up. Whether a regeneration, subject matter or show-runner or all three. They might even see resting the series for a while as another choice, although that might a choice of the new BBC director-general and how comfortable he or she is with Science Fiction.
Considering the BBC only show one repeat in an early morning spot and none later on outside of the digital channels later, ‘Doctor Who’ is already in a precarious position in its home country.
For those of you in the UK, show the BBC differently by watching on a television for the rest of the season. If nothing else, it’ll show them you are still out there. Thank you.
GF Willmetts
25 January 2020
