UPDATE: Doctor Who "Asylum Of The Daleks" Overnight Ratings

So, how did Doctor Who fare in the ratings last night?

That’s the least number of viewers who have watched a Doctor Who series premier since its return in 2005, but before we all start screaming, “The axe is falling! The axe is falling!” let’s put that in context.

It’s only down by just over 0.1 million from last year’s “The Impossible Astronaut”, fared better than “Let’s Kill Hitler” (6.2 million) and it was up against the Paralympics which are doing tremendously well on Channel 4, and something people would rather watch live (recording Who for later). ITV’s ratings juggernaut, The X-Factor , which was shown a little later, was watched by only 8.57 million, a massive drop on previous years. Plus, we all know Doctor Who gets a massive time-shift, and the final viewing figures (due in just over a week) will likely show a rise of at least 1.5 million. And with the massive positive word of mouth for “Asylum” (check out the comments section and the poll on our review page) we wouldn’t put a time shift in excess of 2 million out of the question.

And let’s be honest, 6.4 million for a drama on UK TV these days is still bloody amazing.

Oh, and it trounced its competition, Red Or Black , on ITV (3.36 million).

And it’s number one on iPlayer. Again.

It would have been nice to see a few more tune in live (especially considering the spoiler potential if you didn’t), but hey, as the mantra goes, “Let’s wait for the final figures”.

UPDATE The episode scored an audience appraciation figure of 89, the highest since “The BIg Bang” and the highest ever for a series premier.

On overnight viewing figures alone, the show was the tenth most watched television show of the week in the UK.

Read our review of “Asylum Of The Daleks”

Read our spoiler-free pereview of “Dinosaurs On A Spaceship”

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.