Jodie Whittaker’s debut Doctor Who series attracted the programme’s highest average TV audience for nearly a decade, new figures show.
Full ratings for all of Whittaker’s 10 episodes as the Doctor put the average audience at 7.7 million.
The last time the show enjoyed a larger average audience across an entire series was in 2010 – Matt Smith’s first year in the title role.
Whittaker’s average is also higher than the equivalent figure for David Tennant’s second series as the Doctor in 2007.
Full ratings are different from overnight ratings as they include people who recorded a programme and watched up to seven days later.
They are treated as the official ratings for a TV programme.
Audiences for Whittaker’s individual episodes stories as the Doctor slipped across the series from 10.54 million for episode one to 6.24 million for episode nine.
Episode 10, the series finale, saw ratings climb slightly to 6.48 million, according to the latest official figures from Barb.
The BBC has already confirmed that Whittaker will return for a new series of Doctor Who – but not until 2020.
And this year will be the first since the show was relaunched in 2005 that there will not be a special episode on Christmas Day.
Instead viewers will be able to see a one-off adventure on New Year’s Day.