This Week in Doctor WhoThis Week in Doctor Who

This Week in United Kingdom


See broadcasts for BBC OneLast Christmas

Last updated 02 January 2017
Broadcast: Thursday 25th December 2014
6:15pm-7:15pm GMT < > « » Premiere < > « »
(actually broadcast at 18:14:30)
BBC One
Google
Featuring: Peter Capaldi, Samuel Anderson, Jenna Coleman, Nick Frost, Natalie Gumede, Nathan McMullen, Dan Starkey

Under attack on an Arctic base, the Doctor and Clara appear to be facing their doom. Will Santa offer the gift of salvation? Nick Frost and Michael Troughton guest-star.


Synopsis Source: Radio Times
Broadcast Source: BBC
Final chart position for Last Christmas

Ratings Information:


Initial figures: 6.300m viewers (overnight), 27.5% audience share, 8th place day
Consolidated figures: 8.284m viewers (+7 days), 31.6% audience share, 7th place - BARB Week Top 10 (channel), AI 82
Additional figures: 8.546m viewers (+28 days)
Online player figures: 1.07m requests as of 31st December 2014

Initials: Doctor Who was the seventh most watched programme on an individual channel, with BBC One once again dominating Christmas night viewing. In terms of programme schedule, Strictly Come Dancing at 5pm came third with 7.0m/35.1% share, then it was Doctor Who (6:15pm, 7th/6.3m/27.9%), Miranda (7:15pm, 5th/6.7m/27.6%), Call The Midwife (7:45pm, 4th/6.8m/27.9%), Eastenders (9:00pm, 2nd/7.6m/30.2%) and Mrs Brown's Boys (10:00pm, 1st/7.6m/32.2%). Conversely, for ITV it was For The Love Of Dogs (5:45pm, 14th/3.2m/14.7%), ITV News (6:45pm, 13th/4.2m/18.1%), Emmerdale (7:00pm, 9th/5.7m/23.7%), Coronation Street (8:00pm, 6th/6.6m/26.9%), and Downton Abbey (9:00pm, 8th/5.8m/24.5%).

However, the Queen's speech was the most-watched programme overall when both BBC and ITV broadcasts are taken into account, achieving 7.8m viewers (and shifting everything above down a place) - i.e. making Doctor Who the eighth most-watched programme of the day.

Finals: The consolidated chart shows that Doctor Who was the seventh most-watched programme for the week, with BBC1's Christmas Day programming taking six of the top seven places, with only the Monday 8:30pm edition of Coronation Street edging Last Christmas off sixth place. With timeshift taken into account, the top programmes swapped places since broadcast, with Eastenders, Strictly, Midwife, Miranda becoming Midwife, Strictly, Miranda, Eastenders - Mrs Brown's Boys remained the nations most-watched programme over the Christmas period chart.

 

BARB Reports

BARB Live: 4.64m; Timeshift+7: 3.64m (8.28m total); Timeshift+28: 3.91m (8.55m total)
[first week breakdown: 6.337m(Wed); 7.927m(Sun); 8.078m(Mon); 8.195m(Tue)]

The Top 20 for the week (excluding +1 - see the chart image for combined results):

9.689  Mrs Browns Boys               BBC1  25th 10:06pm (10:05pm)
9.407  Call The Midwife              BBC1  25th  7:51pm ( 7:50pm)
8.979  Strictly Come Dancing         BBC1  25th  4:59pm ( 5:00pm)
8.655  Miranda                       BBC1  25th  7:16pm ( 7:15pm)
8.604  Eastenders                    BBC1  25th  9:06pm ( 9:05pm)
8.291  Coronation Street             ITV   22nd  7:32pm ( 7:30pm)
8.284  Doctor Who                    BBC1  25th  6:14pm ( 6:15pm)
8.21   The Queen's Christmas Message multi 25th  3:00pm
8.105  Eastenders                    BBC1  26th  8:00pm
8.080  Coronation Steeet             ITV   22nd  8:34pm ( 8:30pm)
7.893  Eastenders                    BBC1  22nd  8:01pm ( 8:00pm)
7.772  Coronation Street             ITV   25th  7:59pm ( 8:00pm)
7.691  Coronation Street             ITV   24th  7:32pm ( 7:30pm)
7.654  Eastenders                    BBC1  24th  8:02pm ( 8:00pm)
7.406  Last Tango in Halifax         BBC1  28th  9:01pm ( 9:00pm)
7.379  Top Gear Patagonia Special    BBC2  28th  8:02pm ( 8:00pm)
7.361  Coronation Street             ITV   26th  7:00pm          
7.241  Downton Abbey                 ITV   25th  9:01pm ( 9:00pm)
7.214  Top Gear Patagonia Special    BBC2  27th  8:30pm
6.739  Emmerdale                     ITV   22nd  7:01pm ( 7:00pm)
7.148  Skyfall                       ITV   24th  8:12pm ( 8:10pm)
6.518  Emmerdale                     ITV   25th  7:02pm ( 7:00pm)
6.239  Emmerdale                     ITV   23rd  7:02pm ( 7:00pm)

Demographics for the week showed that Doctor Who was the fourth most popular amongst children (1.04m), and fifth amongst adults aged 16-34 (2.09m).

BBC iPlayer Reports
The BBC reported that Doctor Who was watched by some 1.0694 million viewers in the week to the end of the year, and was the ninth most-accessed programme for the period:
2.079  Top Gear Patagonia Special, Part 1
1.689  EastEnders 25/12/2014
1.554  Top Gear Patagonia Special, Part 2
1.433  EastEnders 26/12/2014
1.309  The Apprentice Series 10 - The Final and You're Hired Episode 14
1.264  Miranda Special - I Do, But To Who?
1.147  EastEnders 23/12/2014
1.108  EastEnders 24/12/2014
1.069  Doctor Who - Last Christmas
1.058  The Boy in the Dress
1.056  EastEnders 22/12/2014
0.977  Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special - Mammy's Tickled Pink
0.972  EastEnders 29/12/2014
0.949  Call the Midwife Christmas Special 25/12/2014
0.655  The Wrong Mans Series 2 Episode 1
0.643  EastEnders 30/12/2014
0.495  Not Going Out Series 7 Christmas Special Episode 10
0.488  Gangsta Granny
0.471  Match of the Day 26/12/2014
0.455  The Wrong Mans Series 2 Episode 2

Notes


DRAMA "A scary, tense and claustrophobic adventure" is Steven Moffat's promise to RT for his hotly anticipated special, Last Christmas. "It's The Thing meets Miracle on 34th Street!"

Expect creepy monsters attacking a scientific base at the South Pole with a big dollop of Santa on the side.

Quite whether Father Christmas belongs in the Doctor Who universe will be a matter for you. Clips aired so far show Nick Frost playing the part with all the pizzazz of a peeved van driver. He heads up a guest cast including Michael Troughton (son of second Doctor, Patrick) and former Corrie and Strictly star, Natalie Gumede. Let it snow!

LinkCredit: Radio Times, p162