This is England gives Film4 bumper 1m viewers

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 03-Jun-08, 11:10

LONDON - The Bafta-award winning independent film 'This is England' gave Film4 its second highest ratings to date last night, with 1m viewers tuning to its watch its television premiere.

The Shane Meadows-directed film, which was critically acclaimed upon its release in April 2007, pulled in a total average audience of 1m viewers, including figures from Film4+1, according to unofficial overnight ratings.

The film, which is set in the summer of 1983, centres around a 12-year-old boy called Shaun and his friendship with a group of skinheads, who become his surrogate family.

Hollywood movie 'The Shawshank Redemption' holds the channel's record audience, with 1.1m viewers.

The screening, which was promoted on Channel 4, attracted a 5.1% total share of the multi-channel audience between 9pm-11pm.

Channel 4 will also be pleased with its audience for E4's 'Big Brother: More Auditions' as it gets set to launch the ninth series of the reality series on Thursday.

'Big Brother: More Auditions' was watched by 508,000 viewers and a 2.2% share of the multi-channel audience between 9pm-10pm.

The third instalment of Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' franchise drew 267,000 viewers and a 2.1% share of the multi-channel audience on ITV2 between 10pm-11.45pm.

BBC Three's Bafta-award winning comedy drama 'Gavin and Stacey' brought 373,000 viewers and a 1.6% share of the multi-channel audience at 9pm. A second 30-minute helping at 9.30pm had 465,000 viewers and a 2% share.