Doctor Who shed a million viewers in a week, dropping below 4 million on the second outing of its new series, as the BBC1 show was mauled by ITV’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup.
Doctor Who attracted an average of 4.6 million viewers on its return on Saturday 19 September, the lowest series opener since the show’s return a decade ago, suffering at the hands of Simon Cowell’s The X Factor.
On Saturday, the second episode of Doctor Who, The Witch’s Familiar, drew an average of 3.7 million viewers, a 16.6% share of total TV viewing between 7.45pm and 8.30pm.
At one point viewing dropped as low as 3.2 million viewers, just above the all-time low of 3.1 million in 1989.
The ratings are believed to be the smallest since the BBC brought back Doctor Who in 2005
The sci fi show was hit by ITV’s coverage of England’s dramatic loss to Wales in the Rugby World Cup, which drew an average of more than 10 million – the biggest UK audience for a rugby match in eight years.
Doctor Who overlapped with the start of ITV’s coverage, which began at 7.15pm.
This week, the third episode of Doctor Who is unfortunately timed to start later at 8.25pm.
This means that the entire episode will air during England’s match against Australia, which the home side must win in order not to be knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages for the first time.
