David Tennant's appearance on The Sarah Jane Adventures almost doubled the average overnight viewing figures for the show. Thursday's episode scored 1.3 million viewers, while Friday's nabbed 1.1 million viewers. This compares to viewings so far this season of 0.6 million, 0.7 million, 0.6 million and 0.8 million.
Such figures may sound piffling compared to Doctor Who's audience, but even before Tennant appeared the show was getting double what the CBBC shows were usually getting in similar time slots, so a show that triples the expected audience is freakily good. Both episodes have also been riding high in the BBC iPlayer service's Top 10 most popular downloads as well, and expect the final figures - announced in a couple of weeks - to have a hefty shift upwards thanks to those who recorded the show.
Luckily, the story was also one of Sarah Jane Adventures' best yet, so all those extra viewers were treated to some top entertainment. Tennant was great and Lis Sladen put in the performance of her career. And was it just us, or was Clyde wearing a brown pinstripe suit and white Converse All Stars a subtle in-joke?
