Final figures for The Idiot’s Lantern show the episode was seen by a total of 6.76 million viewers – 500,000 higher than the episode of Casualty broadcast the same night and 300,000 more than ITV’s Soccer Aid.
Despite the hysterical comments from some national newspapers, rather oddly echoed by some UK fan sites who really should know better, the episode was the most watched programme of the day across all channels.