Poor diagnosis for Harley Street
- Published: 18 July 2008 10:02
- Author: Jon Rogers
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- Last Updated: 21 July 2008 08:51
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ITV1's new high profile drama series Harley Street had an inauspicious start last night at 9pm with 3.9m viewers (17.5%).
The 60-minute opening episode, from Carnival Films, began with 4.3m (20%) but slipped down to 3.6m (16.6%) by 9.30pm and rallied slightly in the final quarter of an hour with 3.7m (17%).
The six-part series, starring Paul Nicholls and Suranne Jones, fell short of the commercial network's slot average for the year so far of 4.6m (20.2%).
However, the drama attracted a decent amount of upmarket viewers with 40% of the audience coming from the ABC1 demographic. So far this year ITV1 has averaged a share of 39.8%. Younger viewers though really weren't impressed, with those aged between 16 and 34 making up just 9.4% of the audience, compared to an average of 12.2% for the year so far.
BBC1 took full advantage and dominated the slot with the conclusion of On the Fiddle? averaging 5.2m (23.6%) in the same slot.
Channel 4 also hit the 3 million mark at 9pm with Big Brother (13.5%). A further 358,000 watched on C4+1.
Further down the field were BBC2's comedy shows. Mock the Week held a steady course from last week with 2.6m (11.9%) while Lab Rats at 9.30pm had 1.3m (5.9%).
Five's The Hotel Inspector pulled up the rear with 1m (4.6%).
BBC1's Celebrity Masterchef was given a significant boost at 8pm with 5.2m (24.7%), the show's highest audience to date. Audiences have tended to fluctuate quite wildly but last night's audience was the first time the show had broken the 5 million mark. Wednesday's show, also at 8pm, had 4.1m (19.9%).
ITV1's The Bill felt the effects with a disappointing 4.6m (22%) at the same time.
BBC2's repeat showing of Top Gear managed 1.9m (9%), getting the better of C4's on going 1.7m (7.9%). The fashion show had 146,000 on C4+1.
Five had a tough time at 8pm with a compilation of clips from past How to Build a New Life in the Country on just 795,000 (3.8%).
All hours shares for Tuesday 15 July 2008: BBC1 – 21.5%, ITV1 – 17%, C4 – 8% (C4+1 – 0.7%), BBC2 – 9.5%, Five – 4.3%, multichannel – 38.9%.
Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: BBC1 – 26%, ITV1 – 19.6% C4 – 9.3% (C4+1 – 0.7%), BBC2 – 7.8%, Five – 3.8%, multichannel – 32.9%.
