Millionaire Beats Meldrew In Prime Time Hit And Run

ITV appears to have won the latest bout in the ongoing battle against BBC1 for prime time viewing figures. Last night, the first person ever to win the big one on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire defeated one of the BBC’s heavyweight offerings- the last ever One Foot In The Grave, featuring the death of Victor Meldrew. According to unofficial overnights, Millionaire managed viewing figures of 13.9m, while Meldrew only racked up 10.7m. Both shows had managed to add over 2m viewers each to their audiences from last Monday.

The programmes were on air during the 9pm to 10pm slot freed up by the BBC’s recent decision to move the Nine O’Clock News to 10pm (see BBC To Broadcast News At Ten). The move has turned the freed up slot into a ratings battle ground, with both sides bringing out their crowd pleasers in an effort to get ahead. It has also caused continuing debate about the public service role of broadcasters, which last week led to the BBC calling for the ITC to reverse its decision to make ITV move its bulletin back to its original 10pm slot, in direct competition with BBC1 (see News At Ten Debate Looks Set To Continue As BBC Calls For ITC Turnaround).

Following last night’s coup by ITV, the mud-slinging has continued in today’s press, with mutters from the BBC about whether the ‘coincidence’ of the first £million winner appearing on the same night as what the BBC had hoped would be a multi-million ratings winner. ITV has dismissed accusations of easy questions or straight down the line fixing as cynicism, and point out that Millionaire has usually won more viewers than One Foot In The Grave throughout its run.

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