ITV1’s first Celebrity Big Brother bows out with 1.7m

Friday  

ITV’s debut celebrity series of reality titan Big Brother bowed out after its 3-week run to a crowd of 1.7m (14.8%), 1m fewer than the 2.7m (22.2%) that tuned in for the opening episode.  

The 90-minute finale landed ahead of the finale of ITV’s civilian reboot, which collected 1.2m (9.2%) across ITV1 and ITV2 in November last year. It was broadly on par with the 1.8m (14.3%) slot average for the channel and peaked with just under 2m (17.3%) at around 10pm.  

The final episode was also in line with the 1.8m (14%) across its 17 episodes.  

On its sibling channel ITV2, the final episode of Celebrity Big Brother: Late and Live aired at 10.30pm to 310,000 (4.4%) across the hour.  

ITV1’s final episode of Celebrity Big Brother was beaten at 9pm by an episode of Channel 4’s long-running format Gogglebox which entertained 2.1m (17.8%) to lead the Friday night ratings.  

Also offering up Friday night entertainment, an episode of BBC1’s Would I Lie To You? followed closely behind Channel 4, humouring 2m (16.2%) across the 9pm hour.  

Meanwhile, the penultimate episode of Martin Compston’s Norwegian Fling continued with 500,000 (4.1%), narrowly ahead of its opening 480,000 (3.7%). The six-part series is available on iPlayer as a boxset.  

On Channel 5, the third episode of Susan Calman’s Great British Cities informed 653,000 (5.5%), slipping slightly from the 803,000 (6.8%) that tuned in for its opening episode.  

Earlier that evening, Death in Paradise spin-off series Beyond Paradise returned for a second series with 3.5m (25%) on BBC1 at 8pm. This was almost 1m lower than the 4.4m (29.3%) that tuned into the debut series in March last year.  

The series landed neck and neck with ITV1’s soap Coronation Street which landed a steady 3.2m (22.9%).  

Saturday  

Channel 4’s live coverage of England International Football was level with ITV1’s entertainment staple Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, with both taking 3.5m on Saturday night.  

Channel 4’s coverage spanned from 6pm until 9.10pm, while Saturday Night Takeaway kicked off at 7pm until 8.30pm. It was followed by The 1% Club on ITV1, which maintained the 3.5m across its hour-long episode.  

Elsewhere, BBC2 put the spotlight on Diana Ross with Diana Ross: Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1973 at 9.15pm, serenading 215,000 (2.6%). Meanwhile, Channel 5’s royal scandal Edward and Wallis: The Bahamas Scandal Revealed was watched by 658,000 (6%) also at 9.15pm.  

Sunday  

ITV1’s latest Sunday night drama Passenger launched with 1.9m (13.4%), well below the channel’s 2.8m (20.1%) slot average for a Sunday evening.  

The drama was also unable to match recent outings on the channel including Covid drama Breathtaking, which launched with 2.4m (19.6%). Instead the horror thriller landed closer to medical drama Maternal, which aired to 1.6m (11.6%) in January last year.  

The series marks a rare foray into horror for the broadcaster, and was co-produced with Britbox as an international partner, exploring a close-knit community sent spinning by a series of strange crimes.  

It was no match for BBC1 flagship drama Death in Paradise, which easily dominated Sunday night with 5.2m (36.4%) for its eighth episode.  

On Channel 5, Dan Snow’s latest documentary Atlantis: The Discovery with Dan Snow informed 403,000 (3.2%), almost half of the 934,000 (7.1%) that tuned in to last year’s Pompeii: The Discovery with Dan Snow.  

Elsewhere, the second episode of the latest series of Hunted on Channel 4 tracked down 1.3m (9.3%), boosted from last week’s 1.1m (8.1%) while an episode of BBC2’s Forensics: The Real CSI was examined by 1.2m (8.3%).