If you don't watch Doctor Who, tell me why

[UnquietDad]

Everyone knows that, by any measure, "Doctor Who" is doing really well. It's the biggest BBC drama after the soaps and gets, most weeks, around 8 million viewers (including the "time-shifted" ratings for those who have recorded it). In terms of raw ratings this doesn't sound huge, given that it often got 12-13 million in the 60s and 70s, but we live in a fragmented multimedia world and I can understand that, at 7pm on a Saturday some people are plugged onto their Playstations or already largeing it down at their raves with their designer downloaded drugs, or whatever they do these days.

But most people I know - the vast majority of whom are parents of children under 10 - watch it. Just about everyone seems aware it's on. Which rather begs the question not of why 8 million people should choose to watch "Doctor Who" but why 52 million don't?

Let's be charitable and assume that a) 10 million or so are babies and toddlers and so don't have control of the remote, b) another 5 million or so detest "science fiction" (not that it is sci-fi, not really) and would rather pull their own teeth out than ever watch it, and c) about 5 million people don't have access to a telly/assume it rots their brains/ chucked their TV on the skip in 1997 and never looked back. I've no idea if those figures are right, but they don't seem unreasonable...

The next important thing is the audience share - how many people who watched telly were watching a given channel. Anything over 30% is seen as good and over 35% is phenomenal. BBC1 usually gets a 37-39% share when "Doctor Who" is on. So what are the other 60-odd percent doing? Let's assume there really are, as the ratings tell us, 3-4 million ardent Vernon Kay fans in the country who actively tune in for his "Gameshow Marathon" because he is so talented and entertaining. That takes care of about 20%. Where are the rest? I just genuinely can't imagine putting the telly on at 7pm on a Saturday night and choosing to watch a "Two Ronnies" repeat on ITV4, or "Whose Line Is It Anyway" on Five US, or something called "Bridezillas" on some other crappy cable channel, instead of a brand spanking new and wonderful episode of the best thing on the telly.

If you are unmoved by Who, have never watched it, or watched it and gave up with it, or actively hate it - tell me why.

Over to you...

hate sci fi stuff

I love Dr who! But I'm usually to be found putting a baby to bed when its on

When people say "I hate sci-fi" what do they actually MEAN? Leaving aside the question of whether "sci-fi" is an adequate description of "Doctor Who" - and I for one think it falls far short - what exactly do you imagine when you hear/ see the words "sci-fi", and what is it about that which you hate?

Please also tell me what kind of drama you like/ love.

You're a very demanding poster, aren't you Unquiet? lol

I don't have anything against 'sci fi' as such (can't be arsed to write my own definition of the phrase - assuming everyone knows what genre I'm referring to - feel free to add your own definition, though). I just don't like Doctor Who.

I like what I like. I don't feel the need to apologuse for liking some pretty crapola stuff, either. I like EE, but purely out of habit (its like smoking - you know its killing you - or your braincells in this case - but its relaxing in a morbid sort of way). I like those 2 part dramas you occasionally find on the BBC. I like American crime series - CSI et al. I liketrashy American chick-age (SATC, Friends re-runs etc). I like watching the news and documentaries. I enjoy compulsively watching the pregnancy and birth channel, oh, and MTV Base. Ummm...and that just about sums up my TV viewing. I prefer to order DVDs now and then or read a good book than watch TV, tbh.

my mind can't get around the whole time travel stuff - going forwards backwards in time , and in a telephone box? but who knows, maybe if I sat down to watch it I'd get hooked

also
didn't grow up with it
dh doesn't watch it
bad time of day to watch, getting kids to bed

I do like ER, Desperate Housewives, real trashy stuff, stuff that I can tune out of. SAturday night to me jsut ins't a tv sort of night

UnquietDad , quite simply because they have no taste!
DR WHO IS FAB

I like dr who himself as an actor but the story lines are a bit naff

Unquietdad. I just don't enjoy made up stuff. Aliens, monsters, spaceships etc etc . It bores me. I can't be bothered to watch it.

I liked Cold Feet years ago when it was on. Not drama but I enjoy Ugly betty and similar.
Don't watch many dramas as I don't usually catch all the episodes then they don't make sence. Or they're on too late or are too long. 2 hour episodes etc are too long.

Just read hanas post and all her points apply to me aswell. Hi hana

Apart from maybe getting hooked.

because it's daft and clashes with my favourite radio show

hi princess mel!

yes, have doubts as to getting hooked myself, lol

You see, I think anyone who thinks "Doctor Who" is "about" aliens, monsters and speaceships has got the wrong idea. It's about being human, and what that means in different situations - whether past, present, future or sideways.

Last time I looked, watching TV programmes wasn't compulsory ...

I have no interest. And that's a good enough reason for me.

wigwam - no need for the sarcasm. I'm just interested in what makes something so popular so unpopular, if you see what I mean.

Unquietdad, do you not think you are now guilty of taking Dr Who a bit too seriously?

Is there no football on tonight?

It's boring.

Now football, that IS dull.

Dumbledores girl. thats true!

Unquietdad>> Ok maybe Dr Who is not just about Aliens and monsters but you asked what I imagine when I see/hear the words sci fi.

And I still can't be bothered even if its about being human. All the monsters get in the way. I'd rather watch Grease is the Word or Extreme Makeover Home Edition or read my book etc.

Oh and another reason we don't watch it (even as background tv) is that its on at bedtime and its too scary for my children. The child I look after who is 10 loves it. So does his mum. Just not me. And hana and suzywong and hatrick and loads of other mumsnetters ...!

Some people don't even like Battlestar Gallactica. Or even - gasps - Buffy.

I don't take it seriously because it doesn't take itself seriously - something else it has to set it apart from the po-faced "Star Trek" et al.

I just get a bit frustrated when people label something as X and then say "I don't like it because I don't like X". It's like saying yuo don't like "difficult theatre" and refusing to go and see Shakespeare because of that, or that you won't listen to REM because you don't like country and western.

(I don't understand them.)

I think not liking sci-fi is a very good reason not to watch Dr Who actually. And I also think not liking opera might be a good reason for staying out of the Covent Garden Opera House.

Do a lot of people who "don't do sci-fi" like Buffy, MI? I get the feeling they do.

Well, there are lots of reasons not to go and see opera at Covent Garden. It costs a fortune and it's a long way to travel for most people, for one thing.