Reeling from the shock news that the new Doctor, Christopher Ecclestone, would not be signing up for a second series, the latest episode was still watched by 7.3 million viewers, a share of 36% of the audience, but down 7% on last week.
The massive slump for Doctor Who was matched by Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, which has dropped an astonishing 2.2 million viewers in the space of a fortnight.
Elsewhere on Saturday night, BBC One’s Casualty (7.5 million viewers) beat off ITV1 in the 8 to 9pm slot as another celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? clinched 6.3 million viewers and a 29.4% share.
ITV1’s remaining efforts were limited to a double bill for minor celebrity sing-along Hit Me Baby One More Time, which gleaned just 3.2 million and 4.6 million viewers to its two slots during the evening.
For BBC One its prime time programming was interrupted by a series of bulletins revealing details of the Pope’s death from BBC News 24.
BBC Two, Channel 4 and Five’s prime time offering were limited to romantic drama Sons, Daughters and Lovers, The Games: Champions of Champions and CSI: respectively.
The New York strand of CSI scored the highest rating with 2.8 million viewers, while the Jamie Theakston-fronted sports quiz pulled in 2.7 million. BBC Two’s effort was watched by 1.2 million.
Sunday night’s prime time schedule saw BBC One’s period drama Fingersmith drop to a woeful 3.7 million viewers after securing 4.9 million for its debut episode the previous week.
The ratings winner of the night went to a new outing from ITV1’s Midsomer Murders.
The murder mystery drama pulled in an impressive 9.2 million viewers from 9 to 11pm, a massive 40.5% share of the audience.
Meanwhile, BBC Two performed poorly with a re-run of the best bits from loud motoring show Top Gear’s bringing in 1.8 million viewers and sitcom HELP clinching just 900,000 viewers.
Channel 4’s obsession with chart countdowns this focussed on the 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches – the programme brought in an average of 3.1 million viewers and secured a 16.3% share of the audience.
The Ed Harris-fronted subterranean sci-fi flick, The Abyss (Five, 9pm) clinched a 7% share and 1.4 million viewers.
By Kevin May
Daily TV Marketplace - Doctor Who tumbles, followed by Ant & Dec
The storming early success of BBC One's Doctor Who failed to re-appear on Saturday, as its second episode lost 2.6 million viewers, a disaster not capitalised on by Ant & Dec, who also shed another 1.1 million viewers.
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