Torchwood: Miracle Day – Ratings Review
With the final ratings figures now available for all ten episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day we reveal how each episode rated in the UK.
Overnight ratings – as we have said many times on ATV Today – only tell half the story but are often widely used by the press. Yet final figures are far more accurate as they take into account those who recorded a programme but watched later – the press pay little attention to final figures. A programme can significantly improve its ratings once final figures are released but it is overnight figures that the press go by – which can give the impression a show is a flop when in fact it might not be.
Perhaps this could be applied to Torchwood: Miracle Day which suffered from mixed reviews and press stories of falling ratings. Yes ratings were down on the five-part mini-series 
Children of Earth but actually with the final figures now released Torchwood‘s fourth season actually performed quite well – online with an average UK drama.
Torchwood: Miracle Day launched on July 14th on BBC One with The New World – which was originally given as the title of the series as a whole. The episode was seen by 6.6 million viewers by final figures – it was written by showrunner Russell T. Davies and introduced viewers to the new cast such as Esther (Alexa Havins), Rex (Mekhi Phifer) and Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman). The second episode, Rendition, pulled in 5.75 million viewers – admittedly a big drop on the season opener.
Dead of Night, the third episode, was penned by Jane Espenson whose previous credits include episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and Dollhouse. Espenson’s first episode of Miracle Day was seen by 5.49 million viewers. The fourth episode, Escape to L.A, was co-written by Jim Gray and John Shiban, and had a final rating of 5.19 million viewers. The fifth episode – the so-called ‘turning point’ 
in Miracle Day – was The Categories of Life which was also written by Espenson and seen by 5.17 million viewers. The Middle Men, penned by Shiban, was seen by 4.6 million viewers – another big drop for Miracle Day on the previous instalment.
Immortal Sins – which fell foul of some Daily Mail readers who didn’t like the episode’s gay-centric storyline – was written by Jane Espenson and was seen by 4.48 million viewers. Espenson also co-wrote the 8th episode, End of the Road, with Ryan Scott which was seen by 4.64 million viewers – a rise on the 7th episode. The penultimate episode of the series, The Gathering, was written by John Fay and was seen by 4.63 million viewers. The season finale, The Blood Line, was co-written by Russell T. Davies and Jane Espenson and saw a hefty rise in ratings as Miracle Day returned to over 5 million viewers – 5.13 million viewers to be precise.
Will Torchwood return for a fifth season? Who knows. But you can have your say over whether it should or not via our weekly poll. We’re asking if you want to see Torchwood return. Voting is simple, the poll is located on the top left side of our site. Select your choice and click vote.
