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Doctor Who overnight ratings confirmed for The Story and the Engine
The episode saw the Doctor head to Lagos, Nigeria.
BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon
- Ned Holmes
Published: Sunday, 11 May 2025 at 12:47 pm
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The ratings are in for Saturday night's episode of Doctor Who season 15, The Story and the Engine, which took viewers to Lagos, Nigeria, and a barbershop where everything is not what it seems.
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The episode saw the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) visit a mysterious Barber (Ariyon Bakare), who is using the magic of storytelling in a bid for revenge.
As The Story and the Engine reached its conclusion, it paid homage to the much-loved show's 60+ year history in a sequence of clips that included all of the former Doctors – either via glimpses or audio snippets.
Doctor Who. BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon
The fifth episode of the latest season of Doctor Who aired last night (Saturday 10th May) at 7:10pm on BBC One and has attracted an overnight audience of 1.59 million.
That marks an increase in overnight ratings from last week's episode, Lucky Day, which achieved 1.50 million.
It is the third highest of the run so far, behind the first and third episodes – The Robot Revolution and The Well.
The figure is not consolidated and does not include BBC iPlayer, where it was available at 8am on Saturday, ahead of its BBC One broadcast.
The consolidated figure, which also takes into account catch-up and devices, will be published in the week commencing Monday 19th May.
Outside of the news, The Story and the Engine was the BBC's fourth highest rating primetime programme yesterday.
Overall, however, it was a night when the BBC failed to break the 2 million mark in primetime as ITV dominated thanks to Britain's Got Talent and The 1% Club.
The BBC declined to comment when approached by RadioTimes.com.
Read more:
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The synopsis for the episode reads: "In Lagos, the mysterious Barber reigns supreme. The Doctor discovers a world where stories have power, but can he stop the Spider and its deadly web of revenge?"
Speaking previously to RadioTimes.com, writer Inua Ellams emphasised the importance of storytelling in The Story and the Engine.
He said: "Storytelling is how the men let each other into their most intimate spaces, but it's also what powers friendships across the world.
"Specifically in barbershops, it is the locomotion that deepens relationships. It is everywhere. It's how we make friends. We begin to tell stories about ourselves to people. But in the barber shop, it is heightened. So storytelling is vitally important."
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Doctor Who continues next Saturday (17th May) on BBC One, with new episodes available from 8am on Saturdays on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The series is available on Disney+ outside of the UK.
Dive into our Doctor Who story guide: reviews of every episode since 1963, plus cast & crew listings, production trivia, and exclusive material from the Radio Times archive.
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Authors
Ned Holmes
Ned is a sports writer at RadioTimes.com. He has covered a host of sports from EFL football, international cricket and golf all the way through to bike polo and triathlon.
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