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Dark Water

Last updated 02 January 2017

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Broadcast: Saturday 1st November 2014
8:15pm-9:00pm GMT < > « » Premiere

< > « »
(actually broadcast at 20:15:28)
BBC One

Featuring: Peter Capaldi, Samuel Anderson, Jenna Coleman, Chris Addison, Michelle Gomez

In the first of a two-part finale, plans have drawn up in the world of the Nethersphere. The mysterious Missy is about to finally meet the Time Lord and an impossible decision looms large.

Synopsis Source: Radio Times

Broadcast Source: BBC

Ratings Information:

Initial figures: 5.270m viewers (overnight), 22.4% audience share, 4th place day
Consolidated figures: 7.340m viewers (+7 days), 27.4% audience share, 15th place, AI 85
Additional figures: 7.701m viewers (+28 days)

Overnights: Doctor Who was fourth for the day on overnights, with Pointless Celebrities, featuring former companion Bonnie Langford, edging ahead of the Doctor with 5.49 million watching, although this position is likely to be reversed when final figures are available. Strictly Come Dancing was top for the day with 9.7 million watching, while up against Doctor Who, The X Factor had 7.45 million viewers.

Finals: Doctor Who ended up 15th for the week once factors such as ITVHD and ITV+1 figures were collated. One discrepancy for this week came in the inclusion of Countryfile twice, owing to a weather report near the end causing the programme to be counted twice. Our chart removes the extra occurence (for reference the figures were 6.870m for 6:18pm and 8.657m for 7:12pm).

BARB Reports

BARB Live: 3.913m; Timeshift+7: 3.428m (7.340m total); Timeshift +28: 3.788m (7.701m)
[first week breakdown: 5.266m(Sat); 6.600m(Sun); 6.802m(Mon); 6.932m(Tue); 7.029m(Wed); 7.166m(Thu)]

BBC Reports

BBC Live+Same Day: 5.34m; Repeat: 0.24m; Time-Shift: 2.13m; iPlayer: 1.10m; Live+7 Total: 8.81m
The Live+7 figure is calculated by the BBC to try to get an accurate estimate of the total unique audience for an episode of a programme. Unlike official BARB figures the Live+7 uses data to include those who watched one of the broadcast repeats of the episode and those who watched the episode on iPlayer all within 7 days of the original transmission.

Notes

List:

	Trailers
01 Nov 2014	Saturday Choices: Doctor Who, 8:15pm BBC1, by Patrick Mulkern

Dark Water - Next Time Trailer
In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere an impossible choice is looming.

Dark Water - TV Trailer
Missy is about to come face to face with the Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming.

Saturday, 1st November 2014 - by Patrick Mulkern

PICK OF THE DAY

DRAMA "Death is not an end" is the promise of tonight's episode - the start of a deeply troubling two-part season finale. Having shown the Moon and the Earth in a brave new (some might say ludicrous) light already this season, now Doctor Who toys with the concept of heaven, or at least a "Promised Land", as the action moves to the Nethersphere. In Dark Water, Steven Moffat seems to show us what happens to people after they've died. Whatever the later revelations, a lot of this episode will appear crass and in poor taste to anyone who's suffered a bereavement. Which is most of us.

There are positive aspects. Early on, there are harrowing scenes for Clara, Danny and the Doctor, which test their bonds to the limit. Chris Addison (Peter Capaldi's chum from The Thick Of It) is terrific as Seb, the Nethersphere's prissy answer to St Peter, and Michelle Gomez is almost literally "to die for" as the quirky archvillain heretofore known as Missy. But who is she really...?

Credit: Radio Times, p60