Dick and Dom, the BBC's critically acclaimed children's presenters, suffered a setback in their bid to follow rivals Ant and Dec into peaktime, after their quiz show Ask the Familywas largely ignored.
Dick and Dom, the BBC's critically acclaimed children's presenters, suffered a setback in their bid to follow rivals Ant and Dec into peaktime, after their quiz show Ask the Familywas largely ignored.

The 30-minute BBC2 show, which went out at 6.30pm on Monday (4 April), could only manage an average audience of 1 million (5%), reaching a peak of 1.1 million at the start.

The programme, an update of the family-based show hosted by Robert Robinson between 1967 and 1983, featured the duo's anarchic brand of humour but was largely panned by the critics. The Guardiansaid the show had "died on its arse".

The BBC2 show tied with Five's Family Affairsas the least watched terrestrial show in that slot. Channel 4's edition of Hollyoaks, also at 6.30pm, appealed to 2 million (10.7%). BBC1's regional news was the most watched programme at the time with 5.6 million viewers (30%).

A BBC spokesperson said: "We are very pleased with the debut of Dick & Dom's Ask the Family. The show more than doubled the children's audience share for that slot."

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