Public ire over MPs' expenses attracts 3.7m to Question Time

by Nikki Sandison, Brand Republic 22-May-09, 10:25

LONDON - BBC One's 'Question Time', which gave the public the chance to grill politicians over the expenses scandal and recent dramatic events in Parliament, won the prime-time slot with 3.7m viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

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The panel for the programme, which was given an earlier than billed and unusual peak-time slot, included Martin Bell, the independent MP who formerly stood against sleaze in the 1997 election, ousted Neil Hamilton, health minister Ben Bradshaw and Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague.

It attracted a 17% share of the 9pm-10pm audience.

ITV1's detective drama 'Taggart', which last night saw the team investigating a case close to home when DCI Matt Burke's elderly father is found dead in suspicious circumstances, pulled in 2.9m viewers and a 13.3% share of the audience.

Five's US drama 'The Mentalist', which saw fake psychic Patrick Jane using his observational skills to solve the murder of a man who was burnt alive, netted 2.3m viewers and a 10.3% share of the audience.

Channel 4 documentary 'Emergency in the Womb', following the story of unborn identical twin brothers who have a rare condition which threatens both their lives, drew 1.5m viewers and a 6.8% share of the audience. Including Channel 4 +1 figures it reached 1.7m viewers.

BBC Two documentary series 'Keep it in the Family', this week featuring a young woman who has to learn about milking, feeding and animal husbandry in a week to help save her family's dairy farm, scored 1.4m viewers and a 6.2% share of the audience.