Ncuti Gatwa debuted in “The Church On Ruby Road” Christmas Special in Doctor Who with a record he can’t be happy to have achieved: the lowest-rated premiere of a new Doctor in the modern era. With overnight ratings from the BBC, it appears as if this latest iteration of The Doctor is doomed to failure under the stewardship of showrunner Russell T. Davies.
Doctor Who used to be a wild success for the BBC, bucking normal trends of slow series declines as David Tennant brought the show to a new worldwide cultural zeitgeist with classic episodes like “Blink” becoming some of the highest-rated television in BBC history. In the third and fourth series, Doctor Who saw a substantive increase in ratings.
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As the show treaded into less family-friendly territories with forced diversity through the lesbian relationship of the character Madam Vetra during the Matt Smith era, Doctor Who started a soft decline, which was then amplified under Peter Capaldi’s version of The Doctor and pushed to extreme lows with the female replacement Jody Whittaker.
Whittaker’s take on The Doctor was so hated that the show, which once garnered regular ratings of 10+ million, reached a low of 3 million with the episode “Legend of the Sea Devils.”
While Ncuti Gatwa hasn’t achieved the lowest all-time ratings for the show as of yet, he has a disastrous start with audiences tuned out for the Christmas Special, which typically are some of Doctor Who’s highest-rated episodes, coupled with it being a premier of a new Doctor, it spells disaster for Russell T. Davies and the BBC team.
Doctor Who didn’t even win the day in the UK, with Ncuti Gatwa’s Christmas Special only hitting third on the overall ratings, behind “The King’s Christmas Broadcast” and “Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.” “The Church On Ruby Road” only garnered 4.7 million in the initial ratings, which is a slight increase from 4.62 million on “The Giggle,” David Tennant’s third 60th Anniversary Doctor Who Special where Ncuti Gatwa was introduced in the cringe-inducing “bi-generation.”
However, this is down from David Tennant’s first two specials without Ncuti Gatwa’s presence as The Doctor, rated 5.08 million and 4.83 million, respectively.
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As far as debuts go, Ncuti Gatwa pales in comparison to prior iterations. Peter Capaldi’s “Deep Breath” drew 8.5 million viewers, while even Jody Whittaker drew a rubbernecking 11.2 million for her “The Woman Who Fell To Earth” before the show’s eventual collapse.
Russell T. Davies has stated the new iteration of the show will upset fans, as he’s both leaning into left-wing identity politics and taking the show away from its science fiction roots with the new iteration. The new Christmas Special already has several hints that Ncuti Gatwa will be bringing The Doctor in a homosexual direction and showing a transgender singer wearing fishnets along with his companion Ruby Sunday.
Fan reaction to the new level of LGBT nonsense in Doctor Who was sour. Pop culture expert Nerdrotic watched the episode and declared, “It was sh**,” using the hashtag #RIPDoctorWho to signal that the show is dead.
With these ratings, one has to wonder if the expensive budget of Doctor Who will eventually force the cancelation as Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa take the show in directions fans don’t want.
What do you think about the new Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa Doctor Who Christmas Special? Leave a comment and let us know.
Thought Jolie Whittaker’s Dr Who bad but this new one is terrible. Hard to understand all the dialogue as doesn’t always articulate well, mumbles and speaks too fast. Story all over the place, borrows from so many films/tv with its visuals. So many pc efforts it becomes laughable. First and LAST time I will watch this incarnation. Get an intelligible actor and a grown up script writer.
The damage is done, the word on this new Doctor and David’s comeback is out, and most of the audience is folding. They killed the show for 9 % of the population that’s full woke
9% ?? Doubt its even that many. The show is awful these days. RTD is just a hack. I smell cancellation.
I grew up watching Doctor Who.
Always thought of him as an avuncular and asexual character.
The relationship between David Tennant and Billie Piper struck me as very odd, an 800 year old intellectual and a 19 year old Chav ?
But it was still a non-political and honest love story.
Gender politics and ideology don’t belong in a children’s sci-fi programme.
And the Timeless Children storyline should be de-bunked as a plot by The Master, to undermine The Doctor.
I thought Peter Capaldi got the Doctor back to his original character but his great character work was undone by Chibnal and Whittacker.
Please take the series back to it’s basic premise and keep politics out of an innocent sci-fi show.
It is, essentially, a mono-myth story without a need for sexual connotations.
As a once avid fan of Dr Who I am so very disappointed at what it has become. The original Doctor, William Hartnell, would never be considered for the role now and yet it was his portrayal that was a foundation for the success of the series. Children like to be safely scared and not constantly entertained or covertly socially manipulated.
The Doctor desperately needs a complete reboot. Capaldi’s version was a slight improvement, but the character needs to be older, more knowledgeable, less reliant on luck, cerebral, asexual, amoral occasionally, and unpredictable.
There is no real need for him to have a companion. If necessary, let the Tardis fill this role.
A mythical and enigmatic man with a suspicion of vengeance and intolerance would captivate audiences, young and old, and avoid this once loved programme from disappearing forever into it’s own past.
As an afterthought this chap might be worth auditioning, except he is far too decent.
King Charles III‘s Christmas Day message topped Ncuti Gatwa‘s debut in Doctor Who, dominating the UK ratings chart.