Press reaction to Doctor Who's Third episode of 2018, Rosa, is once more overwhelmingly positive, with most commentators praising the subject matter and the way it was handled.

Radio Times felt by tackling historical subjects the series was returning to its roots. "What’s pleasing is that there are no Clever Dick solutions. The time travellers work hard to keep time on track. Who’d have thought that getting a tweedy seamstress and a driver on the right bus at the right time would provide dramatic tension? And there’s a sharp beat when the Time Lord realises she and her team are part of history: “We have to not help her."

The Mirror considers the episode a very important one for the series. "It may surprise some for the series to tackle racism head-on rather than with veiled allegories, but with Chibnall promising to bring back the educational element of the series, the show has proved that the showrunner is keeping to that promise, and it is refreshing for the long-running show to offer some vital social commentary - not just on the past but also issues today."

The Independent singles out the lead actress for much praise. "As with her previous adventures, Whittaker’s Time Lord is the best thing about “Rosa”. The actor has finally started to tone down the overenthusiastic tics that threatened to bubble over early on. True, she is once again a gregarious human space-hopper, with a winning line in self-referential zingers – she half-jokes about being Banksy – however, a rumination on Jim Crow oppression calls for a restrained performance, and she delivers. "

The Telegraph disliked the episode thinking it stodgy "When allowed to riff on history rather than be confined by it, Doctor Who(BBC One, Sunday) can be a ludicrous romp (Let’s Kill Hitler) or deeply poignant (Vincent and the Doctor). Barring a couple of good gags about Elvis and Banksy, however, Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman’s episode felt overawed by the history it was depicting, short-changing some imaginative direction from Mark Tonderai and bearing a score weighed down by French horns straight from the gloopier end of The West Wing."

Den of Geek praised the actress taking on the difficult role of Rasa Parks. "Rosa is played by Vinette Robinson, who manages to embody Parks with apparent ease. Robinson exudes both a quiet strength and a weariness at the continued injustices thrown her way. There’s a fire in her when she meets the TARDIS team, as she tells them in no uncertain terms to leave Montgomery or face the consequences."

Digital Spy praised the way the episode tackled difficult issues. "Doctor Who manages to tackle her story without feeling glib, treating it with the respect and deference it deserves and resisting the urge to pit Parks against monsters from outer space."

Doctor Who: Rosa was watched by 6.39 million viewers, a share of 29.6% of the total TV audience, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Most programmes during the day scored lower than the previous week. Top for the day was Strictly Come Dancing - The Results with 8.65 million watching. Countryfile had 4.91 million viewers. The BBC drama THe Cry had 5.32 million watching. On ITV the highest rated programme was The X Factor - Results with 4.02 million viewers. Against Doctor Who, The Chase Celebrity Special had 3.27 million watching.

Although the ratings are down on the previous two weeks, they still make Doctor Who the fifth most-watched programme of the week, behind two episodes of Strictly Come Dancing, Monday's episode of Coronation Street and the Channel 4 game show The Great British Bake Off, which had 6.42 million watching. It beat every other edition of Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Official figures, which will be released next Monday, will include those who recorded the episode and watched it later. They are expected to be considerably higher than the initial figures.

A number of new publicity images to promote this week's episode of Doctor Who, Rosa

Episode Three Trailer | Rosa | Doctor Who: Series 11

This series will debut on BBC One at 6.55pm.

Main Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sunday 21st October	6:45pm BST
United States of America	BBC America	Sunday 21st October	8.00pm EDT
Canada	SPACE	Sunday 21st October	8.00pm EDT
Australia	ABC	Monday 22nd October	6.00pm AEST

Full listings here

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 531 talks to new companion of the Doctor, Bradley Walsh. Also in this issue...

• PREVIEWS
Exclusive previews of the next four episodes: Rosa, Arachnids in the UK, The Tsuranga Conundrum and Demons of the Punjab.
• MICHAEL PICKWOAD
A tribute to the production designer who worked on Doctor Who from 2010 to 2017.
• 50 YEARS OF UNIT
Exploring the origins of UNIT, which made its debut in Doctor Who 50 years ago.
• MILITARY MANOEUVRES
DWM investigates the role UNIT plays in Doctor Who.
• JOHN LEVENE
Join UNIT’s Sergeant Benton on a very special day out.
• WHO’S CREW
Members of Series 11’s Script and Story Department describe their roles.
• THE WARMONGER
The Thirteenth Doctor makes her DWM comic strip debut.
• JACQUELINE PEARCE
A tribute to the actress who played Chessene in 1985’s The Two Doctors and more recently Cardinal Ollistra in Big Finish’s War Doctor audio adventures.
• THE TIME TEAM
The Team listens to some Who-related chart hits.
• COSPLAY
Tips from Thirteenth Doctor cosplayers.
• EPISODE REVIEWS
Our verdict on the first two episodes of Series 11: The Woman Who Fell to Earth and The Ghost Monument.

PLUS... The Blogs of Doom, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions and much, much more!

Doctor Who Magazine 531 is on sale now, priced £5.99.

The BBC has released a set of pictures showing the new look TARDIS as revealed in last weeks episode of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who The Woman Who Fell To Earth was the most watched programme of the week on British Television with 10.90 million viewers.

Jodie Whittaker's debut as The Doctor had an audience of 10.5 million watching on a TV set. However official figures from the Broadcasting Research Audience Board show that an additional 234,000 watched on their PC, 110,000 watched on a Tablet device and 22,000 watched on a smartphone. These figures are now included in the official BARB 4-Screen Dashboard and make Doctor Who the most watched programme of the week ending 7th October.

Strictly Come Dancing took the next two places with a total of 10.88 million watching the Saturday edition and 9.90 million watching the Sunday results show. Channel 4 took 4th place with the ex BBC production The Great British Bake Off scoring 8.91 million.

The highest ITV show was Monday's Coronation Street with 7.80 million watching.

In its entire history Doctor Who has only topped the TV Rating chart for the week on four occasions, the last time was in 2013 for the 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor.

Doctor Who's audience was split 49% male/51% Female, the reversal from the 2017 figures which had a small majority male audience. The episode had an Appreciation Index score of 83.The consolidated volume also makes Doctor Who the number one drama launch of the year so far. The series opener has also proved a big hit with 16-34 year olds, with 1.8million watching the first episode.

Chris Chibnall, Showrunner, said Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, said The final consolidated rating is the highest since Matt Smith's final episode as The Doctor, The Time of the Doctor, at Christmas 2013. It is the largest audience for the debut story of a Doctor ever, beating Rose in 2005 which had 10.81m watching and Tom Baker's debut story in 1974, Robot, which had 10.8 million viewers.

The BBC has released details of Doctor Who Episodes Five and Six

Press reaction to Doctor Who;s second episode of 2018, The Ghost Monument, is overwhelmingly positive.

The Independent says that Doctor Who remains a delight. "Whittaker once again demonstrates why she may potentially go down as the defining Doctor Who of her generation. Her patter is wry and knockabout. Yet the larking is interwoven with a refreshing sincerity and a determination to be true to her friends."

The Guardian liked the more familiar tone of the series this week "The Doctor feels like the Doctor again. With her unstable-regeneration routine out of the way, Jodie Whittaker has grown almost completely into the role. She nails most of the character’s defining traits with aplomb: disdain for guns, delight in thinking her way out of a problem, and the ability to quickly become ruthless– her takedown of the boorish Epzo was quite something to behold. She is a delight."

Radio Times praised what they called a clearly told adventure, realised with pace and panache. "The Ghost Monument does look very good indeed. This isn’t just down to the epic scale of the South African locations – the desert, the mountains, the ruined coastal resort – captured in gorgeous sunlight and thoughtful camera angles. It’s well directed by Mark Tonderai in the smaller details too. The opening montage as seen through Ryan’s eyes, reflected in his pupil – stars, spaceship, medical equipment – is strange and disorientating but resolves on a reassuring close-up of Graham"

The Mirror enjoyed the story but felt the monsters were bland. It singled out Bradley Walsh for praise "Bradley Walsh really does excel when it comes to the more serious acting. His scene trying to talk to Ryan about the death of Grace oozes the empathy and love he has for his family."

Digital Spy said the episode was fast, funny and frenetic. "The Ghost Monument is a hugely energetic episode. Even once the hectic action of the first seven minutes subsides, the pace barely lets up – with Chris Chibnall's script bounding breathlessly from one incident to the next, there's never any risk of growing bored."

Den of Geek single out the Doctor's new best friends for praise, "Toisin Cole's Ryan is still the stand-out for me, with the exuberance of a young guy dropped into the adventure of his life mixed with the vulnerability brought on by his dyspraxia and the lack of self-confidence it causes."

Finally, Nerdist said the highlight of the episode was the reunion of The Doctor with her TARDIS. "Hands down the stand-out moment of the show is the return of the TARDIS. The revelation of the ship being the titular monument doesn’t deflate what ends up being a shockingly emotional reunion. If anything, the hesitant moments in between the race plot’s ending and her arrival allows us, like the Doctor, to feel that tiny sliver of doubt. We got here, we did everything right, where is the TARDIS?"

The Doctor Who News review can be found on our reviews site.

Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument was watched by 7.11 million viewers, a share of 33.4% of the total TV audience, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The figures, although down on the season premiere, is enough to make Doctor Who the third most watched programme of the week, behind two editions of Strictly Come Dancing. Strictly took top spot for Sunday with 9.2 million watching. The main Saturday edition got 10.6 million viewers as was the most watched programme of the week.

Just before Doctor Who, Countryfile had 4.94m watching, while later the drama The Cry managed 4.59m viewers.

It was a good night for Bradley Walsh who had 4.8 million watching The Chase: Celebrity Special on ITV, directly opposite his Doctor Who appearance. ITV's highest rated programme was The X-Factor with 5.1 million viewers.

Official figures, which will be released next Monday, will include those to recorded the episode and watched it later. They are expected to be considerably higher than the initial figures.

The BBC has released details of Doctor Who Episodes Three and Four

The series continues with Episode Two, The Ghost Monument, later today