Doctor Who's New Year's special is set to be the lowest-rated episode of the show since it returned with new Doctor Jodie Whittaker.
The 12th series of the hit sci-fi franchise kicked off with the first instalment of a two-part special called Spyfall, which saw Whittaker back in the Tardis as the Time Lord.
Her three loyal companions - Ryan (played by Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) also returned.
The episode was watched by around 4.9 million viewers, suffering a significant drop since last year's festive special, which aired to an overnight audience figure of 5.3 million
The show peaked at 5.8 million, but lost viewers in the overall average, according to doctorwhonews.
The loss of viewers suggests the consolidated calculations will also show a decline when they are calculated next week.
The episode also did better than the other big BBC One show of the evening, Dracula, which took in 3.6 million at the later time of 9pm
Standard Online has contacted BBC for further comment.
Doctor Who was pipped by Emmerdale as the most watched show of the day – with five million viewers tuning into the ITV soap.
Guest stars in the new batch of episodes included Stephen Fry, Sir Lenny Henry, Robert Glenister and Goran Visnjic.
Sharing his excitement at his new role being announced, Glenister previously said: "I first appeared in Doctor Who in The Caves of Androzani at the tender age of 24 in 1984.
“35 years later I got to be in it again at the not so tender age of nearly 60. How time flies!”
Višnjić added: “I’ve always been a huge fan of Doctor Who, so when the offer to play one of my favourite people in history came, it made me so happy to be part of the show. And it turned into this awesome, dream job!”
