Poor audience for Peep Show return

Peep Show has returned to dismal ratings – attracting just half the audience of the previous series.

The seventh season kicked off on Friday with viewing figures of just 885,000, compared to the 1.8million who tuned in for the debut of the 2009 series.

Another 151,000 watched on the C4 +1 timeshift channel an hour later, again down on the 208,000 who watched on +1 last year.

In 2006, the sitcom looked set to be axed when the series three ratings hovered around the 1.3million mark, so this weekend’s figures look particularly troubling.

Star David Mitchell previously expressed his concern at how Channel 4's decision to premiere the show online a week before it broadcast could affect the ratings. He said: ‘I suppose I'm just old-fashioned... I just worry that, if TV dies, internet revenues will not sustain proper programme-making. It'll all be skateboarding kittens.’

Figures for 4oD viewing are not available, but just 7,700 people have watched the full episode on YouTube so far.

The Stephen K Amos Show also performed badly on Friday night.

Four weeks ago the series launched with just under a million viewers (or just over a million if HD viewers were included)

But this Friday’s episode attracted just 533,000 to BBC Two – or 2.3 per cent of the entire viewing audience.

Published: 28 Nov 2010