1st episode of XIth series of "Doctor Who", starring Jodie as female lead, garners 9 million viewers

The inaugural episode of the eleventh series of "Doctor Who", which stars Jodie Whittaker as the first ever female lead in the show, received a promising response from the audience, garnering an aggregated reach of 8.2 million viewers, and a peak of 9 million.

The episode had a 40.1 per cent audience share for the BBC in the UK and saw glimpses of new guest stars who will appear throughout the ten-episode run, reported variety.com.

If compared to previous seasons, Peter Capaldi's series opener won 6.8 million viewers, while Matt Smith's first episode won 7.7 million, and David Tennant's series opener got 8 million.

There were also glimpses of "The Woman in Black" actor Shaun Dooley, Susan Lynch and Art Malik in the first episode.

Actors Chris Noth, Mark Addy and Phyllis Logan will have cameos in the series.

(With inputs from agencies.)