Which Dr ? Ah, that one !

Do I remember somebody sticking his neck out and giving the new version of "Dr Who" a cautious but positive welcome a few weeks ago ?

Oh yes, that will have been me then. Please excuse the sound of a trumpet being blown. By myself.

{cough}

Sometimes it's nice to right. It's also nice to see people waking up and wanting drama rather than by-the-numbers TV tombola. As it mentions in the quoted bit below the series has now added another million viewers since last week, thus proving the interest wasn't just for the first episodes hype and novelty. More viewers than the Royal wedding too ?

So, to the typical word "on the street" then:-

Episode three of the TV series, The Unquiet Dead, was the top rated British television program on Saturday, April 9, according to preliminary overnight ratings figures from ViewingFigures. Doctor Who was viewed by an average 8,339,880 viewers, a 36% audience share, with a peak of 8,914,240 viewers. By comparison, its competition on ITV, "Ant + Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway," had only a 32% audience share with approximately 7,136,000 viewers. "Doctor Who" therefore won its timeslot for the third week in a row, increasing its viewership over the previous week, and won the night... even beating two of the UK's biggest events of the year so far, the royal wedding and "The Grand National."

It is interesting to note how the final viewing figures of "Rose," the first episode, skewed upwards from these, so these results could, in fact, be higher when all data is in.

That is, by no means, atypical comment either.

Of particular note was that this Dickens themed third episode was a great amount darker and, in places, genuinely scarier, than the weeks that preceded. No doubt that this was in part due to being written by Mark "League of Gentleman" Gatiss - some great pacing, inventive dialogue and even the odd sly joke. Hearing Dickens exclaim "What the Shakespeare!" was a moment that made me chuckle.

It's not cool (yet) and, for those who've never seen an episode old or new, my interest may prove baffling. There are still 10 episodes left for you to catch up and pretend you've always been watching.

That's the only way....barring time travel, of course ;o)