Christmas with the Doctor (Predict the Ratings)

This year sees Doctor Who premiere at 5:30pm on BBC1, with competition for the time slot coming in the form of Emmerdale on ITV and The Morecambe and Wise 1977 Christmas Show on BBC2: if you feel a little deja-vu it's understandable as these were up against Doctor Who last year - and Channel 4 is even showing the same film, Home Alone, on Channel 4!

In fact, looking at this year's Christmas line-up in the evening, you might think you are watching last year, as there is little difference between this year's and last year's offerings on the main two UK channels - both BBC1 and ITV's evening line-up is nigh-on identical apart from broadcast time, with just the 9:00pm ITV drama slot being Jenna Coleman's Victoria this time around.

The bookies' favourite is also familiar, with Strictly Come Dancing once again taking the top slot; however, second place belongs firmly to the departure of Peter Capaldi, with Doctor Who at 4/1. Bake Off is also in the 'mix', though this time at prime-time on Channel 4.

            BBC1                        ITV                           Channel 4
 3:00  24/1 The Queen
 3:10  66/1 Cinderella             66/1 The Prisoner of Azkaban
 4:45  50/1 The Highway Rat
 5:50                              25/1 Emmerdale
 5:15       BBC News
 5:30   4/1 Doctor Who
 6:30   3/4 Strictly Come Dancing
 6:50                                   ITV News
 7:00                              12/1 For The Love of Dogs
 7:40   6/1 Call The Midwife                                     20/1 The Great Christmas Bake Off
 8:00                              21/1 Coronation Street
 9:00   14/1 Eastenders            12/1 Victoria
10:00    7/1 Mrs Brown's Boys
10:35   33/1 French and Saunders

Predict The Ratings Competition

With Christmas just around the corner it can mean only one (other) thing - it's time for our annual Predict the Ratings competition! This year readers have the chance to win the latest series of adventures featuring the Doctor, Pearl and Nardole, and culminating in two Doctors' final swansongs!


The ratings and positions for 2015 and 2016 are presented here for comparison - recent years have seen a decline in television viewing over Christmas Day across all channels, with none of the programmes achieving the heady heights of several years ago.

To enter our competition, please send the following details to comp-xmasratings@doctorwhonews.net:

• Your name and preferred email address
• Your country of entry (full details will be requested only if you are the winner)
• Your guess at the final viewing figure to the nearest 10,000 (eg.9.99m)
• Your guess at the final position in the chart (eg. 1st) - this will only be used in the event of a tie-break

Terms and Conditions:

• The competition closes at 08:00 GMT, 26th December 2017.
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
• The competition is open worldwide.
• BARB final figures are expected in early 2018 we will contact the winner once they have been published
• The prize is a copy of The Complete Tenth Series and Twice Upon A Time releases on DVD or Bluray; we will confirm the format with the winner at time of notification.

Twice Around The World

Doctor Who has its debut in the United Kingdom on BBC1 at 5:30pm ... but will also be seen in the Middle East at the same time as, with previous years, BBC First simulcast the episode. This will be closely followed by ABC in Australia making it available online via iView immediately after its UK broadcast, and will then be shown in Australian cinemas in the afternoon (01:00 GMT). North America get to see it next, with both BBC America in the United States and SPACE in Canada showing the episode at 9:00pm EST (02:00 GMT).

Boxing Day broadcasts include Prime in New Zealand and ABC in Australia at 7:30pm local time (06:30 and 08:30 GMT respectively), and in the afternoon the episode will be shown on the big screen in Denmark. Viewers in Finland will be able to watch Twice Upon A Time on YLE2 in the evening on the Wednesday, and a British signed version airs in the early hours of Saturday morning on BBC2.

Heading into the new year, and FOX in Germany will be showing the episode dubbed into German on the 10th January, and Sony SciFi in Russia will show it on the 13th. It is expected that RAI4 in Italy and France4 in France will broadcast it in their native languages later in the Spring.

You can keep up with Doctor Who around the world via This Week in Doctor Who