Final ratings are now available for The Girl in the Fireplace, the fourth episode of this new season (broadcast on 6 May). According to the BARB, with timeshifted viewings taken into account, the episode was watched by an average of 7.9 million viewers, making the program the thirteenth most-watched of the week on the list of top fifty programs, and sixth on the list of actual titles (as programs such as "Coronation Street" and "Eastenders" air several episodes). This is an upwards adjustment of approximately half a million additional viewers. Also noted: the BARB rankings for episode 4 ofDoctor Who Confidential which the BARB now reports as being viewed by 728,000 viewers, a slight rise of approximately 4,000 viewers.

According to unofficial overnight figures, Saturday's episode on BBC One,Rise of the Cybermen was watched by an average audience of 8.6m, an audience share of 39.7% and comfortably ahead of the 3m viewers for the ITV1 competition, another showing of The X Men. Beginning 23 minutes later than scheduled, it was the highest-rated show of the day and looks likely to appear in the week's top ten, behind Coronation Street and EastEnders. The five-minute breakdowns for the evening show the effects of the overrunning football match earlier in the day, with most programmes gaining viewers around the time that the next programme was due to start - Strictly Dance Fever ended at 7.20 with an audience of 7.61m, which Rise of the Cybermen gradually increased to a peak of 9.65m in its own last few minutes; that audience, however, immediately dropped to 6.51m when Doctor Who finished. The 9.65m peak is far short of the 11.3m that were watching the climax of the FA Cup Final - that match's average figure of 6.55m takes into account the entire Match of the Day programme that ran from 1pm, not just the match itself, although a proportion of the 11 million viewers had presumably switched on for the scheduled evening news. Rise of the Cybermen was watched by 0.6m more people than Father's Day on the same weekend in 2005, continuing Series Two's improved performance against last year's ratings success.

The audience Appreciation Index (AI) for the episode was 86. This is not only the highest of the second series, it is also among the highest for Doctor Who since the series return - only The Parting of the Ways (89) scored higher.

Meanwhile, Saturday's edition of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC Three was the top-rated multichannel programme of Saturday, with an audience of 712,500 (4% audience share). Sunday's repeat of Rise of the Cybermen on BBC Three was watched by a further 624,900 viewers (3.9% audience share), peaking at 758,000 viewers in its last five minutes, and was third-placed in the multichannel top ten for the day, while Sunday's Confidentialrepeat scored 331,100 viewers (1.9% audience share). (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon,' Andy Parish)

Final viewing figures for the season's third episode, School Reunion(broadcast on April 29), are in: according to the BARB, with timeshifted viewings taken into account, the episode was watched by an average of 8.31 million viewers, the twelfth most watched programme of the week and the fifth highest ranking television show. This is an upwards adjustment of approximately 700,000 additional viewers. Also, BBC3 repeat of "School Reunion" on Friday night May 5 was watched by 430,900 viewers (2.8% audience share), seventh for the evening on the non-terrestrial channels, peaking at 471,200 viewers. Interestingly, the earlier repeat of "School Reunion" on Sunday April 30 achieved a massive Audience Appreciation Index (AI) score of 89.

Meanwhile, the latest transmitted episode this season, The Girl in the Fireplace broadcast last Saturday (May 6), achieved another high initial AI figure of 84, the second-highest ranking of Saturday evening. The Sunday evening (May 7) repeat of the episode on BBC3 was watched by 686,000 viewers (3.5% audience share) according to Viewingfigures, peaking in the five-minute intervals at the end of the transmission to 878,000 viewers, ranked fifth in the non-terrestrial channels for the evening. The installment of "Doctor Who Confidential Cut Down" that immediately preceded it had 299,000 viewers (1.8% audience share). The AI ranking for the Saturday night episode of "Confidential" (May 6) was 82. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon,' Andy Parish)

Early news of overnight viewing figures for Saturday's new Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace on BBC1 are in: an average of 7.4 million viewers watched the episode, with an average 36.6% audience share, down only 0.2 million from the previous week's "School Reunion". According to the ViewingFigures report on 15-minute intervals the episode peaked in the final segment (7.30-7.45) to 7.8 million viewers, while the five-minute statistics show a peak up to 8.10 million viewers between 7.35 and 7.40pm right before the end of the episode. The huge climb of viewership between the start of the episode in the five-minute intervals (6.26 million at 7.00pm, to 7.39 million at 7.15pm, over a million extra viewers) suggest that UK audiences were unprepared for the move of the series to the 7.00pm time slot this week, as it had begun at 7.15pm the previous three weeks.

"Doctor Who" was again the #1 rated show on UK television on Saturday both by viewers as well as by audience share.

Meanwhile, the broadcast of the fourth episode of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC3 immediately afterward attracted 724,400 viewers, with a 4.7% audience share. Doctor Who Confidential was #1 for Saturday broadcast on the non-terrestrial channels. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon', Andy Parish)

Saturday's episode, School Reunion, achieved the joint highest AI (measuring audience appreciation) of the bank holiday weekend, with both the episode of Doctor Who and Five's CSI: New York both scoring 85. This is the same score as New Earth secured a couple of weeks ago, making these Series Two episodes two of the five most popular instalments since the return of the series (see OG news, 18 April).

Sunday evening's BBC Three repeat of School Reunion attracted an average of 599,400 viewers (4.1%), 57,200 up on the previous Sunday's Tooth and Claw repeat, and about 60,000 up on the Sunday repeat of Dalek on the same Sunday in 2005. School Reunion was BBC Three's second-placed programme on Sunday, behind the sitcom Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, and was fifth in the multichannel top ten, behind two editions of The Simpsons, the Two Pints episode, and a Sky Sports programme.

We also have a detailed breakdown demonstrating the series' popularity among children in the UK: of School Reunion's 7.6m overnight average, 1.2m were under 16, an audience share of 55%. Doctor Who is by far the most-watched television programme among children, its nearest rival being BBC One's EastEnders (0.9m, 36.7%). The ITV1 competition on Saturday, the Hulk movie, reached only 0.3m under-16s (18.3%). Interestingly, the same chart shows that, while Totally Doctor Who's audience of 0.8m is equivalent to the figures for Blue Peter, only 0.3m (up to 19%) of the viewers for each children's show are actually children.

Meanwhile, the BARB consolidated ratings for the BBC One transmission ofTooth and Claw on Saturday 22 April are now available. With timeshifted viewings taken into account, the episode was watched by an average of 9.24m viewers, the tenth most watched programme of the week (behind five episodes of Coronation Street and four episodes of EastEnders) and the third highest television show. This is an increase of 0.62m on the previous week's episode and is 1.26m higher than the 7.98m achieved by World War Three on the same Saturday in 2005.

The second edition of Doctor Who Confidential, Fear Factor on Saturday 22 April, was BBC Three's top-rated show of the week, with 0.65m viewers, reaching number 16 in the week's multichannel chart. The Sunday evening repeat of Tooth and Claw charts at number eight for the channel with 0.56m.

Finally, ratings analysis in this week's edition of Broadcast concentrates on Doctor Who's performance on 22 April: 'The second episode of Doctor Who on BBC1 on Saturday at 7.15pm improved by almost a million to 8.8 million, a 42% share. This was thanks in part to a strong lead-in from the big FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool from 4.50pm which attracted 6.5 million, a 43% share. The previous week's opening episode was hamstrung by Strictly Dance Fever's poor 3.8 million/22% and by ITV1's decision to offer a strong holiday movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which took 4.9 million, enough to hit the Doctor's share. This week, by contrast, ITV1 pretty much conceded the night by starting with a repeat of Midsomer Murders from 6pm which had just 3.3 million/18% share.' (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon', Steve Tribe)

Early news of overnight viewing figures for Saturday's new Doctor Who episode School Reunion on BBC1 are in: an average of 7.6 million viewers watched the episode, with an average 39.8% audience share (peaking very briefly as high as 8.88 million viewers in the final five minutes according to the interval breakdowns.) While this is down over a million viewers from the overnights for the previous episode ("Tooth and Claw"), all of UK television experienced a downturn in ratings due to this weekend's bank holiday; Doctor Who was, in fact, in first place in Saturday's program schedule on all networks by both audience numbers and by share.

Meanwhile, the third episode of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC3 was viewed by an average of 565,800 viewers, with a 3.8% audience share, ranking #2 on the total Saturday night viewership on the non-terrestrial channels (behind a sporting event.) Many viewers noted that the BBC3 broadcast started approximately one minute prior to the end of the episode on BBC1, though this likely did not affect the ratings. More details soon. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon')

The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) today released the final ratings numbers for New Earth: 8.62 million viewers watched the episode in the UK, an increase of 0.63m on the initial overnight figures. BARB figures traditionally are slightly different than overnights, as they take into account research into timeshifted viewing (watching the episode later after recording it). With this, Doctor Who is third place for the week in all UK programs behind ITV1's "Coronation Street" and BBC1's "EastEnders", and places ninth for the week in the top ten airings (as 'Coronation Street' and 'EastEnders' are both shown multiple times, five and three respectively). These figures also leave 'New Earth', a million viewers up on 'Aliens of London' on the same Saturday in 2005, and 0.62m ahead of the series average for last year, making it the fifth most successful episode since Doctor Who's return, only slightly behind the 8.63m achieved by 'Dalek'.

Also, on the non-terrestrial (multi-channel) charts -- digital and satellite broadcasts -- Doctor Who Confidentialepisode one was seen by 761,000 viewers to place seventh overall for the week. The documentary was up by over 30,000 on the overnights and almost a quarter of a million more than was achieved by Confidential on the same Saturday in 2005. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon', Steve Tribe)

Higher viewing figures frequently mean lower Audience Appreciation figures, and so it proves for Tooth and Claw. Saturday's episode has an AI of 83, a couple of points down on 'New Earth' and tied with last year's 'Father's Day' as the eighth-highest AI for the new series. It remains, of course, an excellent figure, since the overwhelming majority of television programmes score in the 60s or 70s.

Predictably, Sunday night's Coronation Street was watched by enough viewers (9.31m) to push 'Tooth and Claw' into ninth place in the week's top ten, making Doctor Who the week's third most watched television show, behind Coronation Street and EastEnders. Whether timeshift figures will be enough to push the episode any further up the chart remains to be seen...

Figures are also now available for BBC Three's Sunday repeat of the second episode, which was watched by an average of 542,200 viewers, a 3.3% audience share. The episode began with 191,000 viewers, doubled to 383,000 within ten minutes, and peaked at 781,000 at 7.55pm. This is an increase of 158,200 on the previous Sunday's repeat of 'New Earth', and is almost exactly the same as the figure for 'World War Three' (555,000) on the same Sunday last year. (Thanks to Steve Tribe and 'Shaun Lyon')

Initial overnight viewing figures for Saturday night's new Doctor Who episode Tooth and Claw on BBC1 have come in, and it's good news: an average of 8.9 million viewers watched the episode, with an average 42.3% audience share... a gain of nearly a million viewers over last weekend's "New Earth" which had an average of 8.0 million. According to the individual breakdown of 15-minute intervals, Doctor Who was reported peaking in its last quarter hour at 9.3 million viewers (43.1% share during that fifteen-minute period) and dropped off 4.75m viewers after the episode was over, but even more interestingly, in the ViewingFigures 5-minute interval breakdown, it actually peaked at 10.03 million (44.3%). This is higher even than the peak figure for the preceding FA Cup semi-final (9.91m, of which 1.4m switched off or over as Doctor Who began); this high-profile match was Saturday's second most-watched programme with an average figure of 6.6m (42.6%). ITV, meanwhile, proved no match for "Doctor Who" this week, sustaining just shy of four million viewers at the same time as the episode broadcast. "Doctor Who" is currently in the top-ten for the week's overnight ratings on British television in equal eighth place with Thursday's episode of EastEnders and outrating all five of Emmerdale's episodes. It's likely that 'Tooth and Claw' will end the week in ninth place, as another episode of Coronation Street screens on ITV1 on Sunday evenings, although other Sunday night programmes could yet push Doctor Who out of the top ten in the week's overnights. In comparison with the same weekend last year, 'Tooth and Claw' is well up on the performance of 'World War Three', which had overnights of 7.26m (38%).

Meanwhile, the BBC Three installment of Doctor Who Confidential at 8.00pm scored 616,100 viewers (with a 3.8% audience share), peaking at just after the start at 676,000. It was fourth for the evening on the list of non-terrestrial broadcast channels. And the second edition of Totally Doctor Who last Thursday pulled in 900,000 viewers (8.2%) in its 5pm slot, about the same as Blue Peter's audience size in the same timeslot. (Thanks to 'Shaun Lyon', Andy Parish)

The overnight result for BBC Three's repeat on Friday shows New Earththat evening with an average audience of 454,000, a share of 2.1%. From 9pm, 406,000 were watching and the audience had climbed to a peak of 510,000 by 9.40pm; the following programme (Three's Outtakes) was watched by 213,000. Doctor Who was BBC Three's second most-watched programme of the night, behind EastEnders, and was second in its multichannel timeslot, behind American Idol (ITV2). The total audience for 'New Earth' (combining its BBC One premiere and both BBC Three repeats) stands at 8.83m, pending any adjustment for 'timeshift' viewings, which should be available in a few days.

BARB's Top 75 Network Programmes chart for 10–16 April has 'New Earth' at Number 12 with 8.0m viewers, behind five episodes of Coronation Street (ranging from 8.6m to 11.0m viewers), four of EastEnders (8.3m to 10.3m) and two of Emmerdale (8.1m and 8.2m), making Doctor Who the fourth-highest-rated show of the week and the highest non-soap. The episode also heads the Top 10 Drama chart. In the Top 25 Multichannel chart, Number 6 is the first edition of Doctor Who Confidential, 'New New Doctor' (Saturday 15, BBC3), which was also the top-rated mutichannel programme on Saturday.

Ratings for episode two of CBBC's Totally Doctor Who, the children's variety tie-in show on Thursday, were up slightly this week, with 900,000 viewers and a share of 8.2%. This is roughly the same viewership numbers attracted to an episode of the long-running show "Blue Peter".