The return of Doctor Who to the nation's television screens on Saturday attracted 8.4 million viewers.
The latest series, featuring David Tennant as the Time Lord and Catherine Tate as his companion Donna, which aired on BBC 1, secured an audience share of 39.4%.
Billie Piper also made a surprise appearance in the initial episode as Rose Tyler.
A BBC spokesman said: "This is a great start for the new series. The show kicked off a fantastic night of family entertainment on BBC 1."
The previous third series of the show secured an average 7.03 million viewers.
As revealed by The Herald last week, fans of Dr Who will be able to see the largest- ever exhibition based on the series, when it fills the exhibition halls at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow next year.
Organisers are already expecting it to be one of the most popular shows staged at the museum, with attendance figures anticipated to beat those achieved by the recent Kylie Minogue exhibition which topped 165,000.
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