C4 tops 2m viewers for young mums documentary

by Daniel Farey-Jones , Brand Republic 14-Mar-08, 11:00

LONDON - Channel 4's 'Pramface Babies' scored 2.2m viewers in the 9pm-10pm slot last night, with 9.3% of the audience tuning in to the documentary on teenage mothers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The one-off programme, which followed the unplanned pregnancies of four young girls in Liverpool, was broadcast on the same day that Channel 4 pledged to raise its documentary output to 260 hours in peak-time per year.

It scored the best ratings among the three smaller terrestrial channels. It finished ahead of the the comedy double bill on BBC Two -- 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' was watched by 1.3m, a 5.6% audience share, and 'The Catherine Tate Show' reached 1m, a 4.6% share.

Five's coverage of Bolton's Uefa Cup tie with Sporting Lisbon brought in 1.5m viewers, or a 6.5% audience share.

Including the ratings for Channel 4+1, 'Pramface Babies' was watched by 2.5m viewers and earned a 10.4% share of viewing.

The 9pm-10pm slot's best ratings went to the sixth episode of BBC One drama 'Ashes to Ashes', which was watched by 6m viewers, giving it a 25.3% share.

ITV1's detective drama 'Trial and Retribution' was a respectable second with 4.4m viewers and an 18.8% share.

At 10pm, the BBC continues to dominate the news battle, with 5.3m viewers to ITV's 2.6m.