‘Doctor Who’ season 9 finale ratings: ‘Hell Bent’ ends on a higher note

While there has been a whole lot of hoopla this year about weaker ratings for “Doctor Who” on the BBC, at least the series can celebrate the fact that they are signing off on a reasonably high note.

According to Doctor Who News, the episode “Hell Bent” drew 4.8 million viewers, though that number is slightly inflated thanks to the late run of “Strictly Come Dancing.” Even with a drop down to 4.5 million (expected by many), this would still be #4 on the list of highest-rated episodes this season. Given the return of Maisie Williams and Jenna Coleman for one more go, plus some of the twists and turns, this is a figure that the network has to be reasonably happy with.

One of the biggest reasons cited for the show’s lower ratings this season was the absence of a major “event” story, such as the departure of a Doctor or an anniversary special. These are things that lifted up the show both in season 7 and season 8. However, it will be interesting to see if the return of fan favorite Alex Kingston as River Song boosts numbers at all for the Christmas Special. It is always somewhat hard to get people to watch on December 25, so we hope that they find a way to balance it out somewhat and get a nice viewership.

We’re going to be posting our full Midseason Report Card for season 9 a little bit later in the day, but we’ll say this for now: It’s a season that we really wish that more people had checked out as a whole. We’re not sure it was better than season 8, but it did have many high notes.

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