Sketch show attracts 3.2m viewers

Little Britain has got off to a roaring start in the BBC2 ratings, attracting 3.2 million viewers last night.

The figure, which represents about 16 per cent of the total audience, was almost double the viewing figures of Channel 4's V Graham Norton at the same time.

The terrestrial debut of Matt Lucas and David Walliams,s sketch show was only narrowly beaten by ITV's News At Ten, which had 3.7 million viewers

BBC2 also scored a comedy hit with Ross Noble's edition of Room 101, which attracted 3million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures - 400,000 more than Channel 4's recreation of the Brinks-Mat robbery.

But the Stephen Fry sitcom Absolute Power , which fell between the two shows in BBC2's Comedy Zone, fared less well, although its ratings of 2.2 million was 100,000 up on its debut episode last week.

Published: 2 Dec 2003