Hugh Grant press doc flounders

The special film, parachuted into C4’s schedule on the eve of Leveson publishing its recommendations on press regulation, was less than half the station’s slot average of 1.37m (6.07%) for the past 12 months.

Although its audience was steady over the period it was on air, Attentional classified it as a “very poor” performance for a factual show in the slot.

Furthermore, it was beaten by every other terrestrial broadcaster in the 8pm slot, including the final part of Channel 5’s The Removal Men, which drew 680k (2.8%). A further 33k (0.14%) watched on C5+1.

Made in Chelsea’s Hugo Taylor was the latest celebrity to get the boot in front of a primetime winning audience of more than 8.5m.

The period newsroom drama equalled its lowest audience ever from last week, according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

The sleep behaviour documentary could only rouse an audience of 3.2m – below BBC1’s slot average of 4.95m (20.66%) for the past year.

The property show pulled in its lowest audience of the series on the back of the poor performance of Hugh Grant: Taking on the Tabloids.

The action adventure film was the lowest-rated offering in the primetime slot.

The political drama recovered from last week’s series low of 566k (3.45%), but was still well below its debut of 1.04m (6.61%). Overall, the four-part run averaged 783k (4.83%).

Earlier in the day, The Chase continued its current barnstorming run, pulling its biggest daytime audience on record. It beat everything in its slot.