...thanks to original comedy shows

The Dave comedy channel is celebrating a big rise in younger viewers.

Executives cite new commissions such as Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, Meet the Richardsons and Hypothetical for driving a 20 per cent growth in the number of 16- to 34-year-olds tuning into the channel.

Dave has also increased its overall viewing share by 4 per cent year on year, despite the loss of heavy-hitter,Taskmaster, to Channel 4.

The whole UKTV network – which also includes Drama, Gold, Yesterday and Alibi – is claiming its  highest ever first-quarter share of viewing at 4.73 per cent.

Chief executive Marcus Arthur said: ‘UKTV achieved record viewing in 2020 and I’m so pleased to see that momentum continuing into the first quarter of this year, driven by brilliant programming - be that our original shows, global acquisitions or viewer favourites from the BBC archive.’

Comedy performs well on other channels, too, with Last Of The Summer Wine  one of the top shows on Drama. While on Gold, The Vicar of Dibley: Inside Out attracted 577,000 viewers last month, becoming the best performing retrospective since The Story of Only Fools and Horses in 2017. It  also boosted viewing figures for the original Vicar of Dibley episodes, making the comedy the third highest-rating show on the channel for the quarter.

Forthcoming shows on Dave include a new series of Samson Kayo’s Sliced; while Gold will air a new series of  Murder, They Hope whodunits starring Sian Gibson and Johnny Vegas, and the archive show French and Saunders: Funny Women.

Published: 21 Apr 2021