Derry Girls ends on a high for Channel 4

There was a sense back in the 1990s that maybe things really were getting better. Watching Channel 4’s Derry Girls, with its optimistic, hopeful ending, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed about how things have turned out. Elsewhere, Channel 5 told the story of the blast at a nuclear plant in April 1986 in a country – Ukraine – now under siege from those who ruled it so ineptly back then.

After six Tuesdays, the third and final series of Channel 4’s hit comedy Derry Girls ended on Wednesday 18 May at 9pm with 3.4 million/14% after 28 days, rising to 3.7 million including 256,000 on devices – just behind the penultimate episode on Tuesday 17 May (3.5 million/16%, rising to 3.8 million including 288,000 on devices). Surprisingly perhaps, given the PR hullabaloo, the finale was the second lowest of the run, ahead only of the 10 May episode (3.3 million/16%; 3.6 million including 310,000 from devices).

Derry Girls’ final series opened on 12 April with what would prove to be its best-ever rating: 4.1 million/19%, rising to 4.5 million including 404,000 on devices. The launch episode is C4’s third best title of the year so far, behind The Great Celebrity Bake Off For SU2C (4.2 million/22%) at 8pm on 22 March and Gogglebox (5.3 million/ 22%) at 9pm on 18 February.

Derry Girls’ final series averaged 3.6 million/16%, rising to 3.9 million including 319,000 on devices, by some distance the best of the three.

Derry Girls’ first series, which launched on 4 January 2018 at 10pm, averaged 2.8 million/15% over six weeks (no device data available). Promoted to 9.15pm, the six-part second series from Tuesday 5 March improved to an average of 3 million/ 11%, rising to 3.2 million including 184,000 on devices.

Derry Girls’ final run averaged 2.4 million/19% for ABC1 adults, well ahead of series one (1.6 million/17%) and series two (1.9 million/13%). It was also the best for the 16-34 demographic with 852,000/33% – more than series two (787,000/22%) and series one (782,000/24%).

Channel 5’s latest short history documentary series stripped over consecutive nights opened on Tuesday 24 May at 9pm. Episode one of The Chernobyl Disaster attracted 1.1 million/5% (plus 10,000 on devices), fractionally the highest for the title.

The three-part series averaged 1.1 million/6% (plus 9,000 on devices), more than either of C5’s 9pm history docs last autumn: Attack On Pearl Harbour averaged 1 million (plus 5,000 on devices) over three nights from 30 November, while The Great Escape managed 1 million/4%, plus 7,000 on devices, over three nights from 23 November.

The best of C5’s three-part history docs remains The Great Plague, which averaged 2.4 million/8% (plus 9,000 on devices) over three nights at 9pm from 17 November 2020.

The Chernobyl Disaster averaged 328,000/8% for ABC1 men, more than Attack On Pearl Harbour (313,000/7%) and The Great Escape (284,000/5%). C5’s best three-part history series for the audience remains The Dam Busters (586,000/10%) from Tuesday 1 December 2020 at 9pm.