Thatcher biopic attracts almost one million to BBC Four

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 13-Jun-08, 11:10

LONDON - BBC Four's Margaret Thatcher biopic earned the channel its third-highest ratings in the 9pm slot with 981,000 viewers, but football continued to dominate attention.

'Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley', which depicted the early political years of Britain's first female Prime Minister, earned BBC Four a 4.5% share of viewing at 9pm-10.25pm.

Only 'Fanny Hill', with 1.1m viewers and a 5.6% share, and 'The Curse of Steptoe', with 1.63m viewers and a 7.6% share, have performed better in the slot for BBC Four.

At 9pm the terrestrial channel ratings war was won by the Euro 2008 football, with BBC One's 7.30pm-10pm showing of Austria's 1-1 draw against Poland bringing in an average of 4.55m viewers and a 21.6% share.

The afternoon match, Croatia's 2-1 victory against Germany, attracted 3.29m and a 23.6% share on ITV1.

ITV1's 9pm-10pm performance was poor with just 2.74m viewers and a 12.3% share. 'Brothers and Sisters In Love' was an uncomfortable documentary looking at cases of brothers and sisters who have grown up apart and when reunited have experienced overwhelming sexual attraction to each other.

It was just beaten by 'Big Brother', which saw the housemates miss out on generous food suppliers after failing their latest task. The programme drew in 2.94m viewers, a 13.2% share, on Channel 4 at 9pm-10pm. Including the ratings for Channel 4+1 it managed 3.47m and a 15.6% share.

BBC Two's 'Heroes' was watched by 2.37m, with a 10.5% share, and Five's 'House' was watched by 1.7m, with a 7.6% share.

Comments

Jeremy Lee - 13/06/2008

I thought it was crap - weedy snide little jokes. The Falklands Play on BBC4 the previous day was much better. Shocking that the BBC still hasn't got the guts to put on it either of the terrestrials because it shows Maggie in a positive light. But not totally surprising.