ITV1 drops Tough Gig

ITV has dropped its stand-up show Tough Gig in the face of dismal viewing figures.

This Tuesday’s episode, featuring Fast Show star Arabella Weir, was seen by just 838,000 people in the 10pm slot.

The show – which sees comedians spend a week with unusual groups of people before playing a gig to them – started three weeks ago, with a reasonable 2.9 million viewers watching Frank Skinner at a hippy retreat.

But the second episode, with Dara O’Briain, attracted fewer than a million viewers – and this week’s show fared worse still.

Just four per cent of all viewers tuned in to see Weir perform to ghost fanatics – compared to the 1.9 million viewers, or ten per cent share, who saw the return of the Joanna Lumley comedy Sensitive Skin on BBC Two.

Ratings haven’t been helped by the failure of the show preceding Tough Gig, Peter Jones’s business reality programme Tycoon, which is also Losing It prime-time slot in the shake-up.

Tycoon, which was seen by 1.9 million viewers this week, will be shunted from its hour-long 9pm slot to a half-hour at 10pm on Mondays.

A 90-minute drama will replace both shows, but ITV have not yet announced which one.

No new slot has been found for the remaining three episodes of Tough Gig, but ITV said would return at some point in the future.

The remaining shows feature Patrick Kielty, Russell Howard, and Extras star Shaun Williamson. Click here for a trailer for Kielty’s episode.

Published: 28 Jun 2007