‘Doctor Who’ season 8: Finale ratings; Peter Capaldi’s grand gesture

How was the “Doctor Who” finale? Pretty darn awesome, by our estimation. While we wouldn’t say it matched the greatness of “Listen,” one of our favorites of the entire Steven Moffat era, it did a tremendous job of tying together the whole story for now, and possibly even paving the way for the Doctor and Clara to have some separate adventures for the time.

As for how this finale performed in the ratings, the answer to that is “pretty darn solid.” With 5.45 million viewers in the United Kingdom, this show lost only 10,000 viewers in this measure versus the finale to Matt Smith’s final season on the show. This is a tremendous amount of retention that you don’t often get a chance to see.

The major reason we feel like these ratings are so significant is simply because they do a wonderful job of shutting up some of the folks who proclaim that the series’ recent surge in popularity is due to only having a young guy like Smith or David Tennant in the lead. It is a success because of the quality, and Peter Capaldi was tremendous throughout the entire series.

Speaking of Capaldi, here is also some proof that he happens to be a tremendous guy. The video below is something the actor made for a nine-year old boy with autism recently, who is having a hard time grieving the loss of his grandmother. The boy and his entire family are diehard Whovians, so this was probably very much appreciated as they all continue to navigate was has to be a very difficult week in their lives.

We’ll have more news on the upcoming “Doctor Who” Christmas Special soon, but for now head over here to watch the first promo for it! Also, you can sign up today if you want to have some further TV updates transmitted right to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo via BBC.)