OK ratings for first episode

Ben Elton’s new sitcom The Wright Way got off to a respectable start in the ratings last night.

The show, starring David Haig as a health and safety officer, attracted 2.16million viewers on its first showing. That’s slightly below the average 2.28million BBC One has achieved for the past 12 months for that 10.35pm slot.

But at 16.8 per cent of the entire viewing audience, its share was slightly up on average – and it was comfortably the most-watched show in its timeslot, according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

Elton has also received more critical brickbats this morning, to add to the reviews that slated the show before it aired.

Awarding the comedy a minimum one star in the Daily Telegraph, Jake Wallis Simons summed up the ‘tedium’ of the show, saying it was ‘devoid of any trace of originality – or indeed any trace of genuine comedy’ and said that by the closing scenes: ‘Your sense of humour has been beaten to death like a wet-eyed seal cub and you just want it all to end.’

And in The Guardian, Jon Crace said: ‘The Wright Way is a sitcom that would have looked and felt badly dated in the 1970s. What's happened to Elton? Has he mellowed, sold out or just given up?’

The Independent was slightly kinder, saying the show was ‘Sometimes funny but occasionally so groan-inducing that you want to gather a mob with torches and pitchfork’s.

Here is a clip from next week’s show about the health and safety of conkers:

Published: 24 Apr 2013