13.8 Million People...

...were watching Voyage of the Damned at the episode's peak on Christmas day - around 55% of the potential viewers). On average, 12.2 million people watched the episode (50% of the potential viewers). That is more than the total number of people who voted for Nu Labour in the last election to give them their landslide. Some eye-opening stats for a show that, at the beginning of 2005, wasn't even on TV.

But stats are meaningless to some extent. After all, the utterly terrible Transformers movie made over $700m. Popularity is no guarantee of quality. 12.2 million people could have been wrong. Were they?

Well, no, they really weren't. Voyage of the Damned was pretty fucking spectacular. It was big, it was bold, it was breathless. It was consistently entertaining, and was the clear highpoint of the Christmas TV (although I will acknowledge, given the general standard of the Christmas TV, that is almost damning with faint praise). Tennant, although he is by no means the best Doctor Who, was convincing in the role and has clearly made it his own. The budget was in place to make the special effects worthy not just of prime time TV, but also of a Hollywood movie. And there was a nice balance between action and adventure alongside the more poignant - and Christmassy - moments.

However there will be some fans who will criticise the production - and I can immediately identify some of the potential criticisms. The villian of the piece was poor - a half-baked Davros, camping it up with a gold tooth in an unconvincing wheelchair. The Doctor fell for Astrid far too easily and for no real reason. And the moment where the Queen fled from Buckingham Palace in her slippers with the corgis was worth a passing smile on the night after a lot of wine. It certainly won't stand up to repeat viewings, and will quickly become wince inducing.

But here's the rub - the above criticisms helped to make the show entertaining. It wasn't designed to be for the fans who take the show far too seriously. It was designed for a well fed and well oiled general public on the evening of Christmas Day. And with that audience in mind, it pitched itself perfectly.

The message to all Doctor Who fans is simple. If you want the show to be shown in a prime time slot on BBC One on Christmas Day with the production values of a Hollywood movie, then it will be a rip-roaring adventure story for all the family with the trappings of Doctor Who. If you want Doctor Who to be a wordy story about a Quark attack on the Zygon fleet against the backdrop of the ongoing Sontaran/Rutan conflict then it will be a radio play, broadcast on BBC Four, at about midnight on 27th July. The fan boy in me be damned, I want to see the show in Christmas day, watch by millions. And Voyage of the Damned did that extraordinarily well.