ITV's Doc continues to deliver viewers

Doc Martin

• Increase image
• View all images

The finale of the third series of ITV1's Doc Martin this week became the most popular drama of the year so far, attracting 9.8 million/40.1% share on Monday (5 November) at 9pm.

The hour-long episode, which featured the wedding of the eponymous hero and his long-suffering belle, Louisa Glasson, managed to increase its audience from an initial 9.6 million/39% to a bumper 10.1 million/41.8% in the final 15 minutes - easily above the network's slot average so far of 5.5 million/23.5%.

Doc Martin managed to appeal to a solid ABC1 demographic, with just under 40% of the show's audience coming from this socio-economic group. But younger viewers weren't so impressed, with just 9.8% of the show's audience aged between 16 and 34.

Over the seven-part run, the series has grown from 7.4 million/31.4% on 24 September to its high finale numbers this week. It secured a strong series average of 8.5 million/35.8%.

Monday's show was the most watched edition of the Buffalo Pictures-produced drama ever. The previous highest audience for the Martin Clunes-fronted show had been 9.4 million/42.5%  on 2 September 2004 in a similar 9pm slot.

The last comparable performance on ITV1 in a 9pm weekday slot was the final of I'm a CelebrityÉ Get Me out of Here! on 1 December 2006, which was watched by 9.5 million/41.5%.

For the year to date, Doc Martin is the sixth most popular show, with slightly more viewers than the Dancing on Ice final on 17 March which attracted 9.6 million/43.9% in a 6.30pm slot.

No other broadcaster gave Doc Martin cause for concern  in the Monday slot. BBC2's Dragons' Den took second place with 3.3 million/13.6% in the same slot. The business show has managed to increase its audience week on week by 200,000.

Doc Martin's performance was in stark contrast to the performance of two high quality dramas that the two main broadcasters aired on Sunday (4 November).

There was a heavyweight battle at 9pm with Stephen Poliakoff's Joe's Palace (pictured, centre) for BBC1 clashing with ITV1's adaptation of A Room with a View (pictured, bottom). But both shows got less than half of Doc Martin's audience.

Joe's Palace, starring Michael Gambon and Rupert Penry-Jones, managed a small victory over its rival, attracting 4.1 million/18.3% share for nearly two hours. ITV's adaptation of the EM Forster novel was not far behind, with 3.8 million/17.6% over two hours.

Both dramas effectively cannibalised each other by appealing to a largely similar audience demographic of older, upmarket viewers.

Both pieces drew sturdy ABC1 audiences with 54.2% of the audience of Joe's Palace and 46.7% of A Room with a View's audience coming from this demographic.

Top 10 Dramas so far this year

Not including soaps.

Source: TNS Infosys