This item Contains Plot Spoilers

Press reaction for this weeks episode, The Girl Who Died, is in with The Guardian calling the story and enjoyable daft romp. "Vikings have been a puzzling omission from most of Doctor Who, only cropping up once before The Time Meddler in 1965; so presumably the Doctor is rarely in the mood to tangle with Vikings. Throwing in an electric eel-based attack strategy and the Benny Hill theme music, there’s plenty of fun to be had here before the dark twists of the final minutes."

The Telegraph enjoyed the pace of the episode "The attack and battle sequence zipped through at speed. If it felt a little rushed it didn't hugely matter, as it was clearly setting up for a bigger second half."

The Express found the episode underwhelming, comparing the episode to the series Game of Thrones, in which the guest actor, Maisie Williams, stars. "Maisie was good as Ashildr - the girl who can make her visions come to life - but for the most part it did feel as if she was just playing a viking version of Arya Stark from the HBO fantasy series."

Radio Times, after being critical of the first part of the series this year, enjoyed the episode praising it as a return to a more traditional type of story. "It taps into a very traditional vein but again slyly transcends it, and achieves that holy grail of TV drama – unpredictability." They praise the writer Jamie Mathieson who wrote last year's story Mummy on the Orient Express and who co-wrote this story with Steven Moffat. "It rarely feels predictable. It never bores. I lost count of the times I thought, “Oh, I didn’t expect that.” After a lifetime of watching this series, that’s rare."

The Metro , while disappointed by the premise of the episode, also praised the writing. "Between them, writers Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat just about get away with it by not taking it too seriously. The Doctor flounces around, naming the villagers after characters from EastEnders, Scooby Doo, Noggin the Nog and the 1980s band ZZ Top before he finally pulls a rabbit out of a hat – or an electric eel out of a vat – to bring hope to the hopeless."

Digital Spy thought the episode unlike any other in the series history, varying wildly in tone. "It's fast-paced, with sharp, funny dialogue and some great clowning from Peter Capaldi, who seems far more comfortable with this sort of material than he was 12 months ago. Scenes in which hapless Vikings are spooked by false Gods are almost Monty Python-esque" AV Club tells its readers to go and watch the episode immediately. "This isn't an episode where the Doctor pretends to not have a plan right up to the opportune moment. He genuinely has no idea how he, Clara, and a bunch of Norse farmers and fishermen are going to defeat one of the galaxy’s most fearsome warrior races"

TV.com wants to wait until next weeks episode before passing judgement. "The Girl Who Died" appeared to be an open-and-shut, single-hour adventure as the Doctor came, saw, and saved the day, but it was still just setting us up for whatever is to come next week." while Mashable thought Maisie Williams was underused. "Sure, she nailed her speech about not fitting in with either girls or boys, but that was way too short to showcase her talents. As was the whole setup where she effectively challenges the Mire to a duel, and the Mire helmet visualization that kills her."

Den of Geek was slightly disappointed by the character of Ashildr, given the wild speculation over the character's origins that had taken place online. "Once one gets past the fact that Williams is not playing Susan or some other familiar character, it’s easier to embrace the story she’s in and who she is playing: the Viking girl Ashildr. And yeah, Ashildr is pretty important to the Doctor too, it turns out. Or at least she becomes important by the end of “The Girl Who Died."

gamesRadar wasn't convinced by the alien race, the Mire. "The armoured suits are fun, and the make up once their helmets came off well-realised, but there’s no real sense of threat. That’s fitting given that the Doctor's solution hinges on them being all mouth and no space trousers, but it’s hard to believe that he was genuinely troubled by them earlier on."

Indie wire loved the portrayal of The Doctor. Capaldi is having a whale of a time and isn't even trying to hide it. He wisecracks, technobabbles and emotes like the best of them, thankfully securing his place in the pantheon of Really Good Doctors. Now that he's finally come into his own, having been poorly served by last season's patchy writing, he's up there with Baker, Pertwee and Eccleston (yes, I said it).

Finally Wales online had no doubt what the talking point of the episode would be. "At last, we are told exactly why the Doctor chose THIS face. I no doubt believe that this point will be spoken about for many years to come."

You can read the Doctor Who News review in our reviews section.

4.85 million viewers watched Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Doctor Who was the second highest rated show of the day, behind Strictly Come Dancing which had an average of 9.66 million viewers. Casualty was third with 4.61 million watching.

Rugby scored highest on ITV, but with none of the home countries playing, just 4.04 million watched New Zealand defeat France.

The rating, the highest figure for the series this year, was slightly boosted by the late start to the episode, meaning the calculation includes the remnants of the Strictly audience. However detailed figures show the audience rising during the show once the Strictly audience had departed to average around 4.63 million.

Final ratings will be issued next week, which will be based on the exact transmission time for the episode and will include those who record it and watch it later.

Doctor Who is currently the 22nd most watched programme for the week

This month Doctor Who Magazine looks ahead to the return of one of Doctor Who's most popular monsters, in the forthcoming two-part adventure The Zygon Invasion & The Zygon Inversion – which also sees the return of fan-favourite Osgood

Episode writer Peter Harness tells the Magazine And, of course, the Zygons are back too. Also inside the 92 page issue

• THE GIRL WHO DIED & THE WOMAN WHO LIVED
DWM looks ahead to the brand new episodes The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived and talks exclusively with writers Jamie Mathieson and Catherine Tregenna.
• THE SECRET OF DAVROS
Showrunner Steven Moffat answers readers’ questions about the series’ opening two-parter, and explains why Davros is unlike any other villain.
• BACK TO SKARO
DWM goes behind the scenes of The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar to discover how the planet Skaro was resurrected, with insights from Dalek voice actor Nicholas Briggs and writer Steven Moffat.
• GHOST WRITER
In an extensive interview, writer Toby Whithouse talks in-depth about his recent episodes Under the Lake and Before the Flood.
• WHO’S MAGIC?
Excited by the new series, Jacqueline Rayner reflects on The Magician’s Apprentice and celebrates the magic of Doctor Who in her column, Relative Dimensions.
• MONSTERS OF THE MILLENNIUM
Prosthetic effects supervisor Kate Walshe of Millennium FX talks exclusively to DWM about her team's creations for the latest series, including Davros, Colony Sarff and the Fisher King.
• DOCTOR DOOM
DWM talks to Eighth Doctor Paul McGann about his biggest Doctor Who adventure to date: Doom Coalition!
• THE WAR GAMES
The Fact of Fiction explores the second half of The War Games, the landmark Second Doctor story which introduced the Time Lords.
• FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
There's comic strip action in a terrifying new adventure for the Doctor and Clara: The Highgate Horror, by Mark Wright, illustrated by David A Roach and James Offredi.
• THE DWM REVIEW
DWM reviews the first four episodes of the latest series: The Magician’s Apprentice & The Witch's Familiar and Under the Lake & Before the Flood. Plus the latest books and audios are put under the spotlight.
• COMING SOON
All the latest Doctor Who merchandise releases, including – at last! – the DVD release of 1967's The Underwater Menace. PLUS! All the latest official news, competitions, Wotcha! and The DWM Crossword.

Doctor Who Magazine 492 is on sale from today Thursday 15 October 2015, price £4.99

A roundup of publicity for the next episode in the current series of Doctor Who, The Girl Who Died.

The Girl Who Died: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 17 Oct 2015	8:20pm
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 17 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am BST)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 17 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am BST)
Asia Pacific	BBC Entertainment	Sun 18 Oct 2015	10:00am SGT	(3:00am BST)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 18 Oct 2015	7:30pm NZDT	(7:30am BST)
Australia	ABC	Sun 18 Oct 2015	7:40pm AEDT	(9:40am BST)
Europe (Benelux)	BBC First	Tue 20 Oct 2015	9:00pm CEST
United Kingdom	BBC Two	Fri 23 Oct 2015	1:45am	(British Signed Language)
Finland	YLE2	Mon 19 Oct 2015	6:05pm EEST
India	FX	Sun 25 Oct 2015	11:00pm IST
South Africa	BBC First	Sat 31 Oct 2015	6:45pm SAST
Germany	FOX	Thu 17 Dec 2015	9:00pm CET	(dubbed into German)

Doctor Who: Under the Lake finished with an official rating of 5.63 million viewers.

The rating issued by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, or BARB, includes all those who watched the programme within one week of transmission. It does not include those watching online via iPlayer

The rating makes Doctor Who the 22nd most watched programme for the week on all UK television. It was the 10th most watched programme on BBC Television.

Doctor Who ended higher than Casualty, which beat it in the initial overnight figures, and was the third most watched show on Saturday Night. The Great British Bake Off topped the chart with a massive 12.65 million watching. The most popular Saturday night show was Strictly Come Dancing with 9.27 million viewers.

Doctor Who: Before the Flood had an Audience Appreciation or AI score of 83.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

With Sunday's overnight viewing figures now available, Doctor Who finished as the 39th most watched programme of the week. Consolidated figures will be published next week.

Before the Flood has debuted in Australia, averaging 511,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the second-highest rating ABC drama of the day and the nineteenth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.

Meanwhile, including time-shifted viewers, The Witch's Familiar averaged 734,000 consolidated viewers in the five major capital cities. With 192,000 extra viewers, it was the highest time-shifted program of the day and the seventh highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional viewers.

This item Contains Plot Spoilers

Press reaction to Doctor Who: Before the Flood is in, with the Guardian admiring the timey wimey structure of the story, finding it mind-boggling in its ingenuity, its time-hopping central premise enough to leave you scratching your head for days". They loved the the main protagonist, "I’m not one to scare easily, but found the realisation of the Fisher King difficult to look at, putting this old fanboy in mind of the Destroyer from 1989’s Battlefield (surely a design classic).".

The Telegraph felt the fisher king was underused. "The scares were fewer this week – though there was certainly tension to be found in a deaf woman being followed by a ghost wielding an axe. And the much-hyped Fisher King was sadly little seen....Given that the character’s voice was performed by the talented Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars’ Darth Maul) it was a shame he didn’t get a bit more dialogue".

The Express got very confused over timey wimey nature of the story. "When it comes to trying to understand time travel and paradoxes on Doctor Who, just don’t. Put any efforts to one side, just go with it and take it at face value. If the 10-year-old sitting in front of you can do it, so can you. Once you manage to bypass the timey wimey chaos ensuing in front of your eyes, it’s quite a pleasurable way to spend a Saturday evening in front of the television."

The Metro found the events on the Drum underwhelming, but loved the realisation of the Ghosts. Without uttering even a word of dialogue, the ghosts are one of the scariest and most effective creations seen in modern Who.

Digital Spy thought the episode scary and smart and praised Paul Kay, who played the Tivolian Prentis, "Kaye is terrific as Prentis - it's just a shame his screen-time is so brief as to relegate the one-time Dennis Pennis to little more than a glorified cameo". Den of Geek saved its main praise for The Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi. "We're four episodes into his second series in the TARDIS, and it just feels like he utterly belongs there. His performance continues to mix grumpiness, friendliness, intelligence and a large dose of alien. Leading the detective work across this particular two parter, he's been on excellent, excellent form".

Radio Times was again not convinced by the episode. "I have to be frank and say that while I find Before the Flood marginally more intriguing than Under the Lake, as a brace of episodes they do little to float my boat, buzz my sonic or activate my time rotor". The reviewer points out his ten year old nephew loved the story. "Perhaps I need to reconnect with my inner ten-year-old to evaluate Doctor Who in 2015"

The Register enjoyed the introduction of the bootstrap paradox. "We've seen this device used a few times in the rebooted version of Doctor Who; such as 2005's Father's Day and Blink, which was first broadcast in 2007. And, of course, loopy paradoxes paradoxically loop their way through the TV drama's 52-year-long history", however TV.Com felt the detailed explanations of the difficulties of time travel were unnecessary and were spoon feeding the audience."I love that feeling of being slightly out of control as my mind tries to bend the story to fit what my brain thinks is logical. But I also really love it when I'm allowed to reach the conclusion on my own without being nudged toward it or, in this case, having it bronzed, mounted in a glass case, and then put under a giant spotlight".

Mashable loved the way the episode opened, with The Doctor talking directly into camera. "Not only did it break the fourth wall, not only did it spin a neat little self-contained tall tale that suggests the Doctor may actually be Beethoven, it also basically gave the plot of the episode away, which unless you're really paying attention, you only realize in retrospect"

For IGN the highlight came at the end of the story. "It thrilled me so. I’m referring to the last 30 seconds or so, where the Doctor breaks down the bootstrap paradox of it all for Clara. Her wow moment of realization as the Doctor says, “When did I first have those ideas, Clara?" followed by “Who composed Beethoven's 5th?" followed by his looking down at the camera, at us, and just ever so slightly shrugging. Man, it gave me goosebumps!"

You can read the Doctor Who News review in our reviews section.

4.38 Million viewers watched Doctor Who: Before the Flood, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

The programme had an audience share of 21.5%, up from last weeks share of just 16%, helped by the lower rating for the Rugby World Cup on ITV. This week, with England out of the competition, an average of just 3.51 million tuned in to see the host country play Uruguay.

Top for the day was Strictly Come Dancing with 8.91 million watching, while ITV's highest audience was for the Rugby, but not for the match showing opposite The Doctor. Australia v Wales at 4.30pm had 4.75 million watching.

Casualty edged just above The Doctor with 4.42 million views pushing Doctor Who into 4th place for the day. Doctor Who is currently 33rd for the week.

Official consolidated figures will be released next week.

The BBC have released clips looking behind the scenes of this weeks episode of Doctor Who, Before the Flood.




A full review of the episode can be found on Doctor Who Reviews