 The episode received an overnight rating of 6 @.@ 18 million viewers in the UK , peaking at 6 @.@ 68 million , a 29 @.@ 8 % audience share ; which put it in third place for the night . When time @-@ shifted viewers were accounted for , the figure rose to 8 @.@ 44 million viewers , placing second for the week on BBC One . " The Bells of Saint John " also received 0 @.@ 96 million requests on BBC iPlayer for March , and 1 @.@ 3 million requests for April . The episode received an Appreciation Index of 87 . In 2013 the episode received 2 @.@ 61 million iPlayer views . 
