Major BBC ratings blow as huge shows in ratings fail

BBC have seen a significant decrease in viewing figures for some of their most hyped drama series, including the led Ten Pound Poms.

The Australia set period drama returned for a second series on Sunday March 9 but failed to match the figures it attained for its first series.

In May 2023 season one attracted a whopping 4.6m viewers, which is also the channel average, in the slightly later 9pm slot. However series two’s 8pm time slot has seen a dip in viewers and it is below the channel average for its slot.

It fared better than the highly publicised Keeley Hawes drama Miss Austen, which also suffered in the ratings recently. It had a 9pm time slot but only managed to attract 2.4 million viewers.

Glossy Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero, which follows Ten Pound Poms, also fell victim to a ratings decline losing 1million viewers for it’s second episode.

The opening episode on Sunday March 2 garnered 2.3million viewers but the most recent installment only puled in 1.3 million viewers.

This is well beow the channel average. However, all episodes of that drama have been available on the iPlayer since its launch so it is likely that contributed to the figures.

In a further blow for the Towards Zero was beaten out by ITV’s rival drama The Bay, which saw 2.1million viewers tune in for the second episode of its fifth series.

This is only slightly down on the 2.5million series opener last week.

Embarassingly Towards Zero, which featres a stellar cast including Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Matthew Rhys and Anjelica Houston, had less viewers than both Dancing on Ice on ITV1 and The Great Pottery throwdown on Channel 4.

The final of the ice dancing reality show, which saw Sam Aston crowned champion, peaked at 2.7million which is only 200,000 off it’s opening show figure of 2.9million.

Meanwhile, ‘s The Great Pottery Throwdown, which also broadcast at 9pm managed to attract 2.1million viewers for it’s final episode.

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