From Outpost Gallifrey:
“Official figures released today by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board confirm that Journey’s End, the final episode of Series Four, was the UK’s most watched television programme of the week with an official rating of 10.57 million viewers.
It is the first time in Doctor Who’s 45 year history that the programme has achieved this position. Not only did the programme top the chart but it did so in style getting more than 1.5 million more than the second placed programme, Mondays Wimbledon coverage. Journey’s End got over 2 million more viewers than any episode of Coronation Street and 3 million more than any episode of EastEnders.
This previous highest chart position was achieved by the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, and last week’s The Stolen Earth, both of which came second. The highest chart position the classic series achieved was 5th for the second episode of the 1975 Tom Baker story The Ark in Space.
I think if you asked any fan, who was watching the program after Peter Davison left, or dealing with the long dry spell before there was even a hint that Russell T. Davies was contemplating a revival, whether they could see a day like this, they would have laughed and patted you on the shoulder. Doctor Who is a part of the popular culture of Britain, with Daleks and TARDIS being household words, but the show never was the top dog. Until now.
Congratulations, Russell, and everybody associated with the revival of the program. There’s a feather for your cap.
Travel Update
We’ll be on the road to Lincoln, Nebraska, today, for the grandpa Wendell, grandma Judy leg of our trip. With luck, we’ll begin the trip just as Vivian begins her afternoon nap, meaning that we’ll get a two hour head start on this four hour trip, but we’ll probably have to stop somewhere enroute. Hopefully at Walnut, Iowa.