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Tuesday, 2 February 2010 - Reported by Marcus
End of Time 2Official figures released by BARB reveal Doctor Who The End of Time, Part Two was watched by 12.27 million people and was once more the most watched programme of the week on British television.

The figures were finally released Monday, after a delay caused by the implementation of a new data collection system. These final ratings are more accurate than the initial overnight figures, and include those who recorded the programme to watch within seven days of transmission. The figures for BBC One give The End of Time a rating of 11.79 million viewers, second for the week behind the episode of EastEnders which directly followed the regeneration. However, unlike EastEnders, Doctor Who was simulcast on the BBC HD channel, where it was watched by an extra 480,000. If these figures are added to the BBC One number it gives Doctor Who a total of 12.27 million, enough to push the programme to the number one spot for only the third time in its 47 year history.

It makes The End of Time, Part Two the 3rd highest rated episode since the series returned in 2005. Overall the episode has the 25th highest rating in the series history.

The edition of Doctor Who Confidential, looking back at the Tenth Doctor, got a final rating of 1.21 million viewers on BBC Three with an additional 150,000 watching on BBC HD. It was the second highest rated programme on Multi Channel for the day.

As well as being the end of David Tennant as the Doctor, The End of Time also brings to an end the stewardship of Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner. Speaking after the launch of the series in 2005, the then BBC head of drama commissioning, Jane Tranter, spoke about her hopes for the series and the audience it would attract. "I told myself I'd be completely and utterly thrilled if it got 6.5 million" she said, "but there was a little voice inside whispering '4.5 million".

The fact that every single episode since the relaunch has exceeded her highest aspirations show how tremedously successful the series has become. Not only bringing large numbers of viewers to BBC One, but also drawing people towards new services such as BBC Three, the BBC iPlayer and , in the last year, BBC HD. If the number of viewers who watched the End of Time on all platforms is calculated, the total stands at around 16 million, roughly the same as the highest rating ever achieved by the classic series, 16.1 million for City of Death in 1979.

Over the last five years 60 episodes have been transmitted making a grand total of 756 since the series began in 1963. Of those sixty 10 have made the top five programmes of the week, something only one episode from the classic series ever achieved. Twenty Six episodes, over half of those made by the team, made the top ten, with only two episodes falling outside the top twenty.

The top rating story of the era was Voyage of the Damned, the Christmas story from 2007, with 13.3 million viewers, the lowest rating story was The Satan Pit with 6.1 million.

Full ratings data and audience analysis for all sixty episodes can be found in the ratings threads in the Transmission section of Gallifrey Base






FILTER: - Specials - Russell T Davies - Ratings - UK - David Tennant