The Doctor and the Fight Against Negativity!

The main cast of Series 11. From left to right: Bradley Walsh (Graham), Tosin Cole (Ryan), Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), and Mandip Gill (Yaz).

The latest series introduced audiences to a brand new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker. She is the first female to take the role since the show’s creation in 1963 and introduced Doctor Who to a new generation of fans. 

The first episode ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ garnered significant praise and introduced not only a new Doctor, but new companions, a new head writer, new technology (new cinematic cameras), a new composer, a new director and god knows how much more. The stakes were high, but a sigh of relief was allowed when fans and professionals alike discovered the episode had an overnight rating of 8.2 million. This was the biggest figure for a series opener since series 4 (2008). It was also the biggest overnight audience since Matt Smith’s final episode in 2013. 

To top it off, the episode finished up with an overall rating of 10.95 million. This includes viewing on mobile devices, PC’s and tablets. The show is a hit once again with its biggest audience for a series opener since its return. Even the series 1 opener received fewer viewers (10.81m). So at the moment, the show is showing no signs of weakness. 

The second episode saw an expected drop to 7.11 million overnight. This is still higher than any episode of Peter Capaldi’s and significantly higher than most of Matt Smith’s. For comparison, Series 1 dropped 2.65 million from episode 1 to 2 in overnight figures. This series dropped 1.09 million - quite the difference. The episode had an official audience of 9 million, therefore being the best figure (not including episode 1) since Series 8’s opener in 2014. 

Now, ratings have slipped since to the 6 million mark for overnight audiences. This is by no means bad however. Peter Capaldi’s last series saw lows of 2.89 million overnight with final figures never reaching the 7 million mark. As a result, it’s very hard to say the series is failing when the ratings are not dwindling. Every series has started high and slowly slipped. It is very natural for any drama to slowly lose viewers. Look at American Horror Story for example. Its latest series, Apocalypse, began with just over 3 million and its latest episodes pull in 1.6-2 million overnight. The drop has happened. Doctor Who does the same, it is very rare for ratings to go up on the opener (Series 2 managed this however) so it can’t be called a failure when it is simply doing what any show does and what the series has always done in the past.

Moving on from ratings, we come to the idea that the show is too politically correct to be good. It is understandable that seeing a pregnant man and characters that resemble Trump remarkably may spark debate for some people. However, Doctor Who has always been about diversity, being fair and wondrous. With a platform like what this show has, isn’t it a good idea for it to be enforcing a sense of diversity, equality and tolerance?! Yes, it should. It was quite saddening to see so many tuning out of Rosa simply because it ‘wasn’t Doctor Who.’ The show has followed a new direction, starting away from how it had been for over 10 years to follow its original purpose - to educate and entertain. I have seen numerous children suddenly gain interest in black history and I have also begun writing again just because of the inspiration the episode ignited in me. This is the power of Doctor Who and it’s lovely to see it being used to inspire and teach. It may not be what everyone was looking for, but the show was slipping so change was long overdue even if it takes some adjusting.

Many sites continually praise the series (Rotten Tomatoes for example), yet IMDb seems to be a feeding ground for haters. Before one episode had even aired, it had 12 1/10 ratings. It seems the show is under a magnifying glass in order to pick out every issue whether it’s to do with the writing, acting, casting or anything really. The show has never been under such scrutiny that even loyal fans are struggling to protect their beloved series. It’s a sad reality that people seem to gain power from hating something. It may be true that the episodes have their faults whether it’s Chibnall’s character driven stories, questionable acting or just overwhelming dialogue, but this is no reason to hate the show on the level that I have witnessed. A Facebook comment section even argued that they don’t like it simply because Rosa isn’t British history and a pregnant man is far too much. We can handle a woman and a cat/human giving birth to kittens, but an alien man being pregnant is too much. 

I’ve brought up the main points I’ve witnessed and discussed the issues and the immense scrutiny, but I suppose the decision rests with the public and how they see the series after reading this. Is the media simply making us think the show is failing, are the fans actually hating it or are we just looking at the wrong side of the internet? You’ll need someone better than me to find out.