Nathan's a turn-off
Just 500,000 see Chris Morris sitcom
Chris Morris’ sitcom Nathan Barley has slumped further in the ratings, attracting just 500,000 viewers to Channel 4.
Friday night’s show lost more than a quarter of its already meagre 700,000 audience of the past couple of weeks when screened against BBC1’s Red Nose Day telethon on Friday.
The figure represents just two per cent of the viewing public, the sort of audience a digital channel might be proud of, but very disappointing for a terrestrial broadcaster in a 10pm slot. For comparison, six times as many people watched the Cruft’s dog show on BBC2 on Sunday.
The Comic Relief show peaked at 12.8million viewers, with an Antiques Roadshow-Vicar Of Dibley crossover at 9pm. The celebrity-studded Little Britain sketches, featuring the likes of George Michael and Elton John, also performed well, attracting 11.9 million people at 8.30pm.
Five was also hit with a ratings slide this weekend, with Joey attracting just 1.6 million on Sunday night – less than half the 4 million audience who watched its first episode a month ago. The show cost the channel a reported £450,000 an episode.
Published: 14 Mar 2005
