Who ratings triumph

By John Freeman on 27 December 2007

With the BBC dominating the ratings on Christmas Day, Doctor Who managed its best ratings since 1979 with the festive episode Voyage of the Damned, no doubt helped by the guest appearance of actress-singer Kylie Minogue, playing waitress Astrid on-board a doomed spaceship.

The Poseidon Adventure-inspired episode (Doctor Who has a long history of successful homage), scored 13.8 million viewers and a 55% share of the TV audience and averaged 12.2 million viewers across its 70 minutes to rank as the second most-watched programme of Christmas Day, with the BBC’s EastEnders winning the top spot with 14 million viewers.

The figures are Dotor Who‘s highest since the screening of City of Death in 1979. The previous best for the new Doctor Who series was 10.8 million for its first episode, Rose, back in 2005.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.