5.9 million viewers watched episode four of Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The story, written by Neil Gaiman, attracted 28.6% of the overnight audience and was the third watched programme of the day. The most watched programme was The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with 9.4 million watching which pushed Britain's Got Talent into second place.

Doctor Who once more drew many viewers to BBC One with the audience rising from 3.6 million to 5.9 million as the programme started and then dropping back from 6.2 million to 3.3 million when it finished.

Against Doctor Who, New Animals Do the Funniest Things on ITV1 had 3.2 million watching.

Doctor Who currently stands as the twentieth most watched programme of the week.

The overnight figure is based on the published timeslot, which was 6.30pm - 7.20pm and so is dragged down slightly by the following programme. Final ratings, based on the exact time broadcast, and including those who record the programme for later viewing, should be available next Sunday.

ON BBC Three / BBC HD Doctor Who Confidential had 716,000 watching, the highest rating of the series so far.

Friday 13th saw a new addition join the menagerie of monsters on show at the Doctor Who Experience currently running at London's Olympia Two.

The Silence are now on show in the walk-through part of the exhibition following their appearance in the opening two episodes of the current series. Fans will be able to encounter these monsters for the first time, although whether anyone will remember their encounter is a moot point, as their powers of telepathy and eerie ability to erase themselves from your memory make them one of the Doctor’s most frightening foes.

To mark their entry into the exhibition The Silence have been making surprise appearances across London.

In the exhibition you can step through the crack in time and become the Doctor’s companion in the walk through experience that recreates the TV series.

Part Three of the Fourth Doctor story, The Hand of Fear, on BBC Four, had 168,000 watching, with the audience rising to 294,000 for Part Four, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The show, which was being broadcast as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, had a 0.83% share of the total audience for part three, rising to 1.37% for part four.

Against Doctor Who, Snog Marry Avoid? on BBC Three had 190,000 watching, The Only Way Is Essex on ITV2 had 132,000, Friends on E4 had 132,000 and The Simpsons on Sky One had 470,000 viewers.

The episodes are not available on the iPlayer due to rights issues.

Barb have now issued final ratings for the week ending 1 May making Doctor Who: Day of the Moon the 15th most watched programme of the week.

The placing is 20 points higher than that based on the overnight ratings, the rise being due to the large numbers who recorded the programme and watched it at a later date.

The last episode to fall outside the top twenty for the week, was Silence in the Library in 2008.

Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot, had an Audience Appreciation figure, or AI, of 86 once more putting it in the excellent category.

With nothing on Sunday getting more than 6 million viewers, Doctor Who finished 18th for the week on overnight figures, with a top ten place possible when the final figures are released next week.

The Sunday repeat on BBC Three was watched by 0.41 million viewers

Episode Two: Day of the Moon had a final consolidated audience figure of 7.30 million viewers, a 36.7% share of the total TV audience, according to figures released by Barb.

The number includes those who recorded the programme for viewing within 7 days of its initial showing. The figure is much larger than the initially reported overnight figure. A full report for the week, which will reveal the shows position in the weekly charts will be released by Barb tomorrow.

The figures do not include those watching on iPlayer, where over 1.2 million have accessed the programme within the first week of transmission.

6.2 million watched episode three of Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Figures across the board were up on the previous week with Britain's Got Talent once more winning the day with 10.4 million watching. Doctor Who had an overnight share of 30.5% of the total audience, almost the same as last week.

The programme was 1.6 million ahead of the third placed Casualty. When Doctor Who finished, the BBC One audience dropped from 6.7 million to 3.3 million viewers. Against the Doctor, New People Do the Funniest Things on ITV1 had an average 2.8 million watching. Don't Scare the Hare, the lead in to Doctor Who had 2.3 million watching.

Doctor Who is now the 18th most watched programme of the week. Final figures, which are likely to see a much higher chart placing, will be released next week.

On BBC Three, Doctor Who Confidential was helped by the loss of the gap between the end of Doctor Who and the start of the follow up programme, and got 0.64 million viewers, up 80% on last week.

---

Meanwhile in Australia episode Two, Day of the Moon, was the fifth watched programme of the day with around 0.90 million viewers in the five capital cities. The rating is slightly up on the previous week. It was only outranked by news programmes and Australia’s Funniest Home Videos on Channel 9.

Doctor Who is once more dominating the iPlayer downloads with episode one of the new series, The Impossible Astronaut, being accessed over 1.5 million times in the 12 days following transmission.

The figure is nearly three times higher than any other programme available on the iPlayer over the same period. In the first week after transmission 1.38 million accessed the programme, this compares with the 1.27 million who accessed last year's series opener, The Eleventh Hour, over the same period. The Eleventh Hour went on to become the most downloaded programme ever, a title it still holds, but a title that may be under threat if The Impossible Astronaut continues to attract such attention on the iPlayer.

The second in the series, Day of the Moon, had been accessed over 1.07 million times in the four days it has been available. It has eclipsed The Royal Wedding Service which has been downloaded 0.62 million times since Friday.

Barb have now issued final ratings for the week ending 24 April making Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut the 6th most watched programme of the week.

The chart is dominated by soaps with Lewis in 19th place and The Reckoning at 20th the only other non soap dramas to make the top 20.

The overnight chart saw the show in 13th place, the rise being due to the large number of people who record Doctor Who for viewing later in the week.

The Impossible Astronaut becomes the 44th episode of Doctor Who to achieve a top ten place. It is a higher chart placing than any other season premier in the show's history, apart from the Eleventh Doctor's first episode, The Eleventh Hour, which was 3rd.

Out of 771 Doctor Who episodes broadcast, only 13 have achieved a higher chart placing.

Episode Two of the current series of Doctor Who, Day of the Moon, scored an Appreciation Index figure of 87, once again one of the highest figures of the weekend and putting the programme firmly into the excellent category.

The Appreciation Index, or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. It is a score out of 100 based on responses from a 5,000 strong panel.

On BBC Three an additional 0.54 million viewers caught the Sunday repeat with 0.07 million watching on BBC HD.

Overall, with Sunday's figures now available, Doctor Who currently stands at 37th for the week, a position that should rise substantially when final figures are released next Monday.