Doctor Who - Thin Ice had an Audience Appreciation or Ai figure of 84

The Appreciation Index in an indication of how much viewers enjoyed the episode. It is based to the reactions of a selected panel of viewers, who rate the episode shortly after transmission.

84 is considered a good score, roughly similar to the scores achieved by the last series of the show,

The highest score for the evening on the two main channels was achieved by Casualty on BBC One which scored 87.

Thin Ice has debuted in Australia, averaging 473,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. The story was the second highest rating ABC drama of the day and the eleventh highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview, regional or time-shifted viewers.

Meanwhile, including time-shifted viewers, The Pilot averaged 594,000 consolidated viewers in the five major capital cities. With 99,000 extra viewers it was the second highest time-shifted program of the day (the highest time-shifted program had 116,000 extra viewers) and the seventh highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include iview or regional viewers.

Press reaction for Doctor Who - Thin Ice is in with most reviewers enjoying the spisode and the performances.

Radio Times praised the story for its multi-layered structure, exploring the hidden depths in the characters. "Sarah Dollard accomplishes this beautifully in Thin Ice. She wipes away a dusting of frost to give us a window into the Doctor’s soul and examines his moral code; the ideals he aspires to and the crimes and misdemeanors he’s prepared to indulge."

The Mirror enjoyed the period nature of the show. "Any time Doctor Who dips a toe into period drama it really goes for it. It delivers a grand scale for the Frost Fair, with an army of extras, wonderful costumes, and sets filled with small touches that all come together to create a visually engaging 45 minutes."

The Telegraph, while enjoying the story, was disappointed by the ending and the effects. "Last week’s story, “Smile”, was let down by a rushed ending. The denouement here was almost as disappointing. Sutcliffe tried to blow up the ice for a reason that wasn’t entirely clear. When the creature swam off down the Thames to freedom, its strange scale and unconvincing appearance resembled a Fifties monster movie."

The Nerdist praises the work of writer Sarah Dollard. "With Thin Ice, we get the sense that she’s been able to explore the topics that are important to her, worth talking about, and don’t pull any punches. From the tackling of racism and classism to the moral dilemma of the Doctor being surrounded by death at all times and even being complicit, it’s all right there, and it’s refreshing.".

The writing was also praised by Ars Technica "The first two episodes struggled to dance between the mostly-excellent teacher/student friendship and somewhat inconsistent sci-fi plot lines. Thin Ice, however, skates through with ease. Writer Sarah Dollard—whose debut episode, Face the Raven, "killed off" Clara last season—ably steers the whole thing through a (Moby Dick)ensian world."

Digital Spy called the episode a fun romp with hidden depths. "Not only is the scenery of 'Thin Ice' visually rich, with circus folk and an elephant milling about on a frozen river, but there's also something innately odd about it. In other words, it's the perfect backdrop for one of this show's twisted trips into the past."

While Den of Geek looked at the various elements in the story. "There’s a bubbling racial and slavery subtext to the episode, and just when you think it’s going to stay there, Sarah Dollard brings it furiously to the surface."

Inverse.com looked at the relationship between The Doctor and the Companion. "Unlike more recent seasons of Doctor Who, this episode went out of its way to establish that the Last of the Time Lords himself feels like he works for the people of Earth. He calls Bill “boss” at the end of the episode and in a pivotal moment says “I serve at the pleasure of the human race.”

Screen Rant also investigated the impact of the new companion on the series. "Bill will be the first companion who is a product of Capaldi’s sometimes brusque but no less compassionate Doctor. As such, his actions at the beginning of their time together will forever shape Bill’s impression of the two-hearted alien moving forward, regardless the form he takes when it’s time to regenerate at the end of the season."

IGN looked at the structure of the story. "This third episode follows the pattern established by the previous two installments with a one-off adventure that feels in some ways like old-school Who. Here, as Bill wades deeper into the exciting insanity of the Doctor’s lifestyle, she also realizes that it’s not all fun and games and stealing pies. Ah yes, the life lessons of a companion."

AV Club admired the shift between serious and comic elements in the story. "Such sudden shifts between light and dark could undermine both aspects of the episode, but Dollard’s script is nimble enough to make keeping the audience off-balance into an asset. That can only work if the actors are confident enough in their performances to serve as an anchor for the various tones, and Capaldi and Mackie prove up to the challenge."

Finally Games Radar thinks this type of story is what Doctor Who was made for. "Unflinching storytelling at its finest, Thin Ice doesn’t shy away from the historical difficulties of taking a black companion to the 19th century. Pearl Mackie’s performance is fantastic from the get-go"

Our own review can be found in our Reviews section.

Doctor Who - Thin Ice had an overnight viewing audience of 3.76 million viewers, a share of 20.4% of the total TV audience, according to unofficial figures.

Top for the day was ITV's Britains's Got Talent, which had 8.27 million watching. Top on BBC One was the comedy series All Round to Mrs Brown's with 4.74 million viewers. Casualty just edged ahead of Doctor Who with 3.90 million, pushing Doctor Who into fourth place for the day, just ahead of Pointless Celebrities which had 3.73 million.

Final figures will be released next week, which should see Doctor Who increase its audience substantially.

Thin Ice: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 29 Apr 2017	7:20pm BST
Middle East	BBC First	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:20pm AST	(Sat 7:20pm BST)
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:00pm EDT	(Sun 2:00am BST)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:00pm EDT	(Sun 2:00am BST)
Finland	YLE2	Sun 30 Apr 2017	11:00am EEST	(Sun 9:00am BST)
Australia	ABC	Sun 30 Apr 2017	7:40pm AEST	(Sun 10:40am BST, also on ABC ME)
Brazil	SyFy	Sun 30 Apr 2017	8:00pm BRT	(Sun 11:00pm BST)
Latin America	SyFy	Sun 30 Apr 2017	11:00pm CDT	(Mon 4:00am BST)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 30 Apr 2017	7:30pm NZST	(Mon 8:30am BST)
Denmark	DR3	Sat 13 May 2017	8:00pm CEST	(Sat 7:00pm BST)

The BBC have released a number of new publicity images to promote this week's episode of Doctor Who, Thin Ice:


This Bank Holiday weekend sees Doctor Who sitting between Pointless Celebrities and Casualty, with primary opposition on ITV being Take Me Out and Britain's Got Talent. World Snooker continues on BBC2, whilst Channel 4 serve up The Restoration Man followed by Walking Through Time; Channel 5 will be showing new episodes of two incarnations of NCIS, whilst Sky 1 have The Simpsons followed by Inside the Freemasons, and the Sky Movie Premiere in the time-slot is X-Men: Apocalypse. The previous weeks have seen Doctor Who achieve third place for The Pilot and fourth for Smile, with Britain's Got Talent the most-watched show of both evenings followed by the BBC's All Round to Mrs Brown's - last weekend also had the live FA Cup Semi-Final football game gaining slightly more viewers than Doctor Who, but this weekend doesn't suggest any other surprises ratings-wise!


BBC One continues to show Doctor Who at 7;20pm, with BBC First simulcasting the episode across the Middle-East - see the table below for other broadcasts around the world. Meanwhile, Danish broadcaster DR has now schedueled the series on its DR3 channel, with The Pilot receiving its premiere at 8:00pm CEST on Saturday.

Thin Ice: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 29 Apr 2017	7:20pm BST
Middle East	BBC First	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:20pm AST	(Sat 7:20pm BST)
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:00pm EDT	(Sun 2:00am BST)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 29 Apr 2017	9:00pm EDT	(Sun 2:00am BST)
Finland	YLE2	Sun 30 Apr 2017	11:00am EEST	(Sun 9:00am BST)
Australia	ABC	Sun 30 Apr 2017	7:40pm AEST	(Sun 10:40am BST, also on ABC ME)
Brazil	SyFy	Sun 30 Apr 2017	8:00pm BRT	(Sun 11:00pm BST)
Latin America	SyFy	Sun 30 Apr 2017	11:00pm CDT	(Mon 4:00am BST)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 30 Apr 2017	7:30pm NZST	(Mon 8:30am BST)
Denmark	DR3	Sat 13 May 2017	8:00pm CEST	(Sat 7:00pm BST)

Official figures released by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board or BARB, gives Doctor Who - The Pilot an official rating of 6.68 million viewers.

The rating includes all those who recorded the programme and watched it within 7 days. It is over 2 million higher than the initially reported overnight figure.

Doctor Who is the tenth most watched programme for the week, the highest chart position for a non-Christmas episode since Listen in 2014.

Top for the week was ITV's Britain's Got Talent, which had 11.04 million viewers. Incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall's Broadchurch, starring David Tennant, was 2nd for the week.

Doctor Who - Smile had an Audience Appreciation or Ai figure of 83

The Appreciation Index in an indication of how much viewers enjoyed the episode. It is based to the reactions of a selected panel of viewers, who rate the episode shortly after transmission.

83 is considered a good score, roughly similar to the scores achieved by the last series of the show,

The highest score for the evening was shared by Casualty on BBC One and Amazing Hotels on BBC Two, both of which scored 84.

An excellent adventure is how The Telegraph describes the second in this year's series of Doctor Who, Smile. The paper is a big fan of new companion Bill, played by Pearl Mackie, who they say is settling in beautifully. "The especially effective thing with Bill is that she asks the questions that a viewer might well ask. Why are the Tardis seats so far away from the console? Why have you got two hearts? Does that mean you’ve got really high blood pressure? How are you allowed to blow stuff up and not get into trouble? Fair points, all of them."

Digital Spy agrees that Capaldi and Mackie are an all-time great TARDIS team. "In her second week, new companion Bill continues to inject fresh energy into Doctor Who, and into the Doctor himself. She stands out from the pack just by virtue of acting and speaking like a real person, and there's great value, both comic and dramatic, in having her ask the type of questions that you or I would if we ever jumped aboard the TARDIS."

Ars Technica praises the dialogue. "The almost rhythmic dialogue in the script for Smile, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who penned In the Forest of the Night for series 8 of the sci-fi drama, helps the viewer become better acquainted with Bill, following Mackie's terrific character debut"

The Nerdist also praises Mackie's performance. "Smile kept the Bill Potts train a-rolling. She’s truly a breath of fresh air; a fun and funny companion who is incredibly passionate about learning, gets giddy when visiting new places, and reacts–as the Doctor said in “The Pilot”–with a smile when she’s confused rather than with frustration."

Screen Rant also looks at the two main characters. "Smile is the perfect way to explore the two characters’ burgeoning relationship, by placing Bill’s wide-eyed wonder front and center with a fittingly dark discovery about humankind’s first colony being undone by some robots that communicate solely through, you guessed it, emoji."

It was not all praise though with The Mirror feeling the episode didn't reach it's full potential and the story lacked punch. "I was really excited about the concept of the Emojibots. Robots that murder you if they think you're unhappy. It should have been up there with Weeping Angels who attack when you blink. But once the episode has set the premise, we're not given any more depth to this idea. Sadly, not exploring the main concept of the Emojibots pushed the episode away from great and delved close to the border of mediocre."

Radio Times also felt the episode was devoid of real emotional investment. "Fatally, for a tale that toys with emojis, there are few convincing reactions on display. Situations force the cast to go through the motions of emotions. There’s no one to root for and, as a viewer, I make no emotional investment. Smile presents interesting ideas but, as drama, is as bland and insipid as emojis themselves. "

Games Radar also felt the episode lacked something."The problem is that the episode can’t decide whether it wants to figure out why people who don’t smile were murdered, or focus on action sequences about emoji robots and their floating swarms of killer nano-robots. Pick one and stick to it."

Cater Matt felt the story was solid. "Smile is a story about collaboration, and also one about treating people and things that are different from you as the same. Maybe there is a political message here, as well. While there was no great moment of emotional fervor, The Doctor did kick off a new civilization with Bill at his side. A very satisfying episode in the end."

IGN liked the message of the story. "That the Doctor is only able to save the colonists by realizing that he also has to save the emoji-bots is the real twist of this story, and also where the lesson comes in about how we in the here and now need to learn to recognize the needs of those around us, and respect those needs, and work together in order to not have to flee a decimated Earth a few decades or centuries from now"

AV Club returns to dynamic of the TARDIS team. "This is an episode that begins better than it ends, which is never the optimal arrangement. But ah well: The Doctor and Bill’s growing friendship and Bill’s character in particular are the real joys of “Smile,” and they are likely what will linger in the memory more when looking back on the season as a whole."

Doctor Who News's review can be found in the Reviews section.