Five off to a strong start with Breaking into Tesco

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 04-Mar-08, 10:55

LONDON - 'Breaking into Tesco', Five's new reality TV series in which cooks compete for the chance to turn their recipes into products fit for the shelves of the supermarket giant, began strongly last night pulling in 1.4m viewers.

The first episode attracted a 5.9% share of the audience in the 9pm slot, compared with the slot average of 4.4%, according to unofficial overnight figures.

It also rated highly with the prized 16- to 34-year-old demographic, with 6.7% of total viewers, compared with a slot average of 4.1%.

Channel 4 scored a ratings hit with the documentary 'Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe', which pulled in 1.9m viewers and a 7.8% share at 9pm -- almost 500,000 viewers above the slot average for the channel.

Including Channel 4+1, the programme was watched by 2.1m viewers and an 8.8% share.

The documentary picks up with Hawking 20 years after his seminal book 'A Brief History of Time' captured the world's attention with its attempt to explain complex theories such as the Big Bang, black holes and light cones.

In the programme, Hawking explained that the "ultimate theory" he had believed to be imminent, which would conclusively explain the origins of life, the universe and everything, remains frustratingly elusive.

ITV will be breathing a sigh of relief that their Monday night flop 'The Palace' has finished its disappointing run.

The final episode drew 3.3m viewers and a 14% share at 9pm, down 23% on its launch episode, which brought 4.2m viewers.

'The Palace', a contemporary drama about a fictional British royal family, averaged 3.3m viewers across the entire series, well below ITV's Monday night slot average at 9pm of 5.6m.

Comments

Gofan Lewis - 10/03/2008

I have never seen a portail of a great british dish so badly portraid with so many excess ingrediants that it has probably but so many people off faggots in my life, there is no heart or any ting other than liver, breadcrumbs, pepper, sage and onion, what is this guy on to inroduce anything else? complete fiction at best, poor tv at worst