The Unquiet Dead - Broadcast and Reception

Broadcast and Reception

Overnight figures showed that "The Unquiet Dead" was watched by 8.3 million viewers in the UK, an audience share of 37%. When final ratings were calculated, figures rose to 8.86 million.

Author and Faction Paradox creator Lawrence Miles posted a damning review of this episode on the Internet within an hour of its broadcast, focusing on a perceived political subtext suggesting that asylum seekers (the Gelth) are really all evil and out to exploit liberal generosity (the Doctor). The review produced considerable backlash in various Internet forums, especially in light of his favourable reviews of "Rose" and "The End of the World", mainly over his comments about writer Mark Gatiss. Miles conceded in a later edit of the review that the subtext was probably unintentional, but still felt it should have been detected and edited out of the script. The original review has been replaced by a placeholder.

Dek Hogan of Digital Spy stated he "really enjoyed" the episode and it was "beautifully dark". He later described it as "a chilling tale" and "a cracker".

The episode received some criticism from parents, who felt that the episode was "too scary" for their young children; the BBC dismissed the complaints, saying that it had never been intended for the youngest of children.