BBC4 doubles audience under Hadlow

BBC4's The Curse of Steptoe

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BBC4 has seen its audience effectively double under the outgoing controller Janice Hadlow.

When the corporation's digital culture channel launched at the start of 2004 it secured an all hours share of 0.24% in its first year, this has steadily risen each year. So far this year the channel has maintained a share of 0.49%, a rise of 104%.

The channel has also had a similarly meteoric rise in peaktime (7pm to 11pm) with its share up by 121% from 0.38% in 2004 to 0.84% now.

Drama has been a particularly big attraction for BBC4 with nine of the 10 most popular shows on the channel all coming from the genre.

The Curse of Steptoe has been Hadlow's biggest popular success with a sizeable 1.6m (7.59%) tuning in at 9pm on 19 March this year. The two part drama Fanny Hill in October last year also managed to break the 1 million mark with both episodes averaging 1.2m (5.5%).

Just scraping past the 1 million mark on 12 June this year was Margaret Thatcher: The Long Road to Finchley which managed to gain a share of 5.14%.

The channel has also gained large audiences for its various recent seasons. Inside the Medieval Mind, part of the historical Medieval season in April, pulled in a sizeable 669,000 (3.24%) for its debut outing.

BBC4's regular Friday night music programming has also been an attraction for viewers. The Pink Floyd Story: Which Ones Pink? averaged a strong 693,000 (3.77%) on 23 June.

The channel's most popular non-drama offering was a repeat of the classic comedy Steptoe and Son which averaged 778,000 (4.26%) on 19 March.

Drama though hasn't been a sure-fire hit for the channel. On 2 August the 85-minute Another Flip for Dominic could only interest 26,000 (0.18%).

Classical music has also caused a few headaches. The series 21st Century Bach could only interest 20,000 (0.12%) on 14 September.

Viewers have also largely shunned Book Quiz which could only draw 22,000 (0.15%) on 7 June.