Ncuti Gatwa returns to Doctor Who and half a millions fans stopped watching, again, just like the actor requested.
Following last week’s big bump of 600K fans tuning in for the Millie Gibson episode, most of those fans apparently chose not to return for Saturday’s episode, “Dot and Bubble,” which was billed as the show’s “Black Mirror” episode; however, that obviously didn’t help.
Episode five was watched by 2.12 million viewers in the UK, according to the UK’s overnight ratings system.
That number is down from the season high last week of 2.62 million viewers (still really low), which, again, centered on companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson, as Ncuti Gatwa disappeared at the start of the episode.
The 2.12 million is also the second-worst ratings of the new series.
Within the next couple of weeks we will also known if the new Doctor Who made the Nielsen ratings, which will give an indication if the show is a success or not on Disney+.
Well, I think we already know the answer. Just like the 60th Anniversary Specials which didn’t make any of the Nielsen charts and never saw Disney make an official announcement about the number of viewers, Disney hasn’t made any announcement about the new series viewership.
Likewise, the Disney-invested Samba TV viewership data company has refused to post the Doctor Who household numbers for Disney+ (obviously because they are terrible).
What happened is that showrunner Russel T Davies and Ncuti Gatwa went even woker than the Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker era thanks to that Disney money. It’s all about pushing an agenda and not about quality story. How’s that working out?
Doctor Who ratings:
2023:
Special 1: 5.08M
Special 2: 4.83m
Special 3: 4.62m
Christmas: 4.73m
2024:
Episode 1: 2.6m
Episode 2: 2.4m
Episode 3: 2.04m
Episode 4: 2.62M
Episode 5: 2.12M