Geronimo?! The BBC, Doctor Who, Disney+, and Russel T Davies could be in a heap of trouble judging by the ratings for the episode involving the introduction of the new Timelord Ncuti Gatwa.
Normally, whenever a new Doctor is introduced, the ratings see a large spike as fans are curious about who the new Doctor will be and how it will all unfold.
However, that isn’t the case with Saturday’s Special, “The Giggle,” which features David Tennant “regenerating” into Ncuti Gatwa, as they are nothing to laugh about.
“The Giggle” is the least-watched
Less viewers showed up, and “The Giggle” is the least-watched of the three new specials coming in at 4.62 million viewers. That’s down from the 4.83 million from the second special, “Wild Blue Yonder,” and down from the 5.08 million from the first, “The Star Beast.”
That marks a loss of nearly half a million viewers in only two weeks.
As I previously wrote, it will be quite revealing if more viewers don’t show up for the regeneration episode, which is exactly what happened. If they are already not showing up for the most popular Timelord, David Tennant, it’s definitely not a good sign for the Fifteenth Doctor.
What about the Disney+ ratings?
Worth a mention regarding Disney+ is that while we still don’t have the ratings, as Nielsen is always weeks behind, Samba TV hasn’t released any numbers.
Samba TV usually releases numbers for new shows on Disney+ in regards to the number of households that have watched the show in the first five or so days of release; however, Samba TV has been silent about the data for the three Doctor Who specials.
Likewise, Disney has also been silent and hasn’t made any official announcement as they did for Loki Season 2 and Ahsoka.
If the ratings are bombing in the UK which is the home of the series, it’s not far-fetched to think Doctor Who is also bombing on Disney+ and the rest of the world.
On the plus side, at least the ratings for Ncuti Gatwa aren’t as bad as Jodie Whittaker (see below) but again, nowhere near previous numbers. Worth a note is you can see the massive dive in ratings from Smith to Capaldi’s to Whittaker’s back to Tennant’s regeneration which shows just how many fans have stopped watching the once beloved series.
Doctor Who ratings for regeneration episodes:
- Series 1 “The Parting of the Ways”: 6.91M (Eccleston to Tennant)
- Series 4 “Journey’s End”: 10.57M (Tennant to Smith)
- Series 7 “Time of the Doctor”: 8.30M (Smith to Capaldi)
- Series 10 “Twice Upon a Time”: 5.70M (Capaldi to Whittaker)
- Series 13 “The Power of the Doctor”: 3.71M (Whittaker to Tennant)
- “The Giggle” 4.62M (Tennant to Ncuti Gatwa)
The BBC released the footage online. Watch below.
Watch: The Fourteen Doctor regenerates:
