"DOCTOR WHO" PREMIERE - BBC AMERICA'S HIGHEST RATED TELECAST EVER

New York, NY - The all new season of sci-fi hit Doctor Who, which premiered on Saturday, April 23, has given BBC AMERICA its highest-rated, most-watched telecast ever in Live + Same Day. Doctor Who delivered almost 1.3 million viewers*, a .72 coverage rating in P2+, and a .92 in A25-54. In total audience, the channel was up 71,000 viewers, from its previous best for last season's opening episode of Doctor Who in April last year.

Additional key successes include:

Viewership across all of BBC AMERICA's Doctor Who YouTube content reached an all-time high of 3.5 million views.

The official debut of Doctor Who on Tumblr reached over 10,000 followers in two weeks.

Doctor Who is currently the #1 TV series on the iTunes store.

BBCAMERICA.com pulled in its largest traffic ever. On its best day, Saturday, April 23, 74% of users were new visitors to the site.

The new season opened with "The Impossible Astronaut", the first part of a special two-parter set in the U.S. and penned by "Who supremo" Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Coupling). It's the first time Doctor Who has ever filmed on American soil. The show sees the return of the Doctor (Matt Smith), his travelling companion Amy (Karen Gillan), Rory (Arthur Darvill) and River Song (Alex Kingston). The series also features an episode penned by long time Doctor Who fan and award-winning writer Neil Gaiman (Coraline, The Sandman). Doctor Who airs every Saturday, 9:00 pm ET/PT.

Notes to editors

* 1,268,010 Total Viewers

Source: Nielsen NH1, 4/23/11 Live and Live+ Same Day.

BBC AMERICA delivers U.S. audiences high-quality, innovative and intelligent programming. Established in 1998, it has been the launch pad for talent embraced by American mainstream pop culture, including Ricky Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Norton, and successful programming formats including ground-breaking non-scripted television like Top Gear and top-rated science-fiction like Doctor Who. Owned by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBC AMERICA has attracted both critical acclaim and major awards including an Emmy, four Golden Globes and ten Peabody Awards. The channel attracts one of cable's most affluent and educated audiences and is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 68 million homes. It broadcasts in both standard and high-definition, with content available On Demand across all major digital platforms. Online, www.bbcamerica.comis the place to go to dig deeper into pop culture with a British twist.