Comic's debut show seen by 1m

Stephen K Amos attracted a million viewers to his new BBC Two show on Friday night.

Overnight figures show the sketch and stand-up show drew and audience of 985,000 – or just under five per cent of the audience at the time.

Another 45,000 watched on the HD channel, just tipping the combined figure over the 1m mark.

But the BBC Two figure represents a fall of more than a quarter on the average audience in that 10pm slot.

However a BBC source said the figures were 'respectable', adding: 'For what is essentially a brand new TV talent with no previous productions under his belt I think this is a really positive achievement.'

He added that a 12.45am repeat in the early hours of Sunday attracted an 'encouraging' 400,000 extra viewers.

The show was largely overlooked by critics, but writing in the Scotsman, Paul Whitelaw called it a ‘dreadful debut comedy vehicle… it feels painfully strained and old-fashioned’.

But on The Arts Desk website, Veronica Lee was more positive, concluding: ‘Stephen K Amos will be around for a long time.’

On Saturday, The Armstrong & Miller Show returned to BBC One with an audience of 3.5 million, down on the 3.8million who watched the second series last year – and down 20 per cent on the average for the 9.45pm slot for BBC One.

Here is a preview clip of next week's Stephen K Amos show.

Published: 1 Nov 2010