Viewers Flock To Race Row Big Bro

Celebrity Big Brother‘s ongoing controversy once again bolstered the programme’s viewing figures, with more than five million adults tuning in for the latest update in the race row.

As more players enter the debate, an eviction looms and the show’s sponsors, Carphone Warehouse, pulls the plug (see Carphone Warehouse Suspends Celeb Big Bro Sponsorship), Channel 4 has proved that all publicity is good publicity with a 22% viewing share for last night’s episode.

Ofcom has now recieved around 30,000 complaints, making this series of CBB the most complained about television programme in UK broadcasting history. This has pushed its audience figures up consistently since the argument erupted over whether Jade Goody is being a racist bully towards fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty.

However, Judge John Deed on BBC One was the most watched programme in the timeslot, with more than 6.1 million adults sticking with the show (26.8%).

The new series of Waterloo Road, on BBC One, also proved popular for the channel, netting more than 4.6 million adults viewers on average, or a 21.6% audience share in the timeslot. The Bill, on ITV1 at the same time, lured over 4.8 million adults, giving the station a marginally higher viewing share at 22.6%.

The dramatic events of Albert Square – car crashes, affairs and family turmoil – drew almost 8.6 million adults to BBC One (40.7%), whilst Emmerdale‘s antics were seen by around 8.1 million (41%) on ITV1.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks, ITV2 and Sky One.

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com