Record audience for BBC Four

The biographical film about Hattie Jacques has won BBC Four its biggest ever audience.

An average of 1.7million viewers watched Ruth Jones as the unconventional comic star on Wednesday night.

It is more than four times BBC Four’s usual audience – and easily beat the channel’s previous record holder, the 2009 Gracie Fields biography Gracie!, which was seen by 1.4milliomn.

A further 71,000 watched on BBC HD, according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

The drama told of how Jacques had an affair with John Schofield after meeting hime while filming Carry On Cabby in the early Sixties. She conducted their affair in the marital home, while her husband John Le Mesurier, the Dad’s Army star, slept in a separate room.

Published: 21 Jan 2011