Homeland premiers to strong ratings on Channel Four

Channel FourThe UK premier of American import Homeland, starring Damian Lewis, had over 2 million viewers for Channel Four last night while Dancing on Ice continued to lose viewers while Call the Midwife ended with over 9 million viewers.

Homeland made a strong debut on Channel Four last night according to overnight ratings. The American drama had 1.9 million viewers at 9.30pm with a further 300,000 watching via Channel Four’s time-shift channel giving a combined audience of 2.2 million viewers making a very impressive start for Homeland.

Dancing on Ice on ITV1 continued to struggle in the ratings with 6.8 million viewers for its main show. A Sunday edition of Coronation Street performed well though for ITV1 with 8.2 million viewers at 8pm; BBC One moved the finale of Call the Midwife by half an hour to avoid clashing with the Manchester soap. You can’t help but wonder how Corrie would have performed had it Pam Ferrisbeen opposite Call the Midwife….Following Corrie at 8.30pm was African drama Wild at Heart which slumped to 5.7 million viewers; it did air opposite Call the Midwife. The Dancing on Ice results show at 9.30pm had 5.6 million viewers opposite Upstairs Downstairs.

Call the Midwife ended its first season on BBC One with an impressive 9.2 million viewers; cementing its run on the broadcaster as being a ratings winner. Upstairs Downstairs returned at 9.30 for a second series with an impressive 6.5 million viewers – beating the Dancing on Ice results show by a million viewers. In fact it was a good night for BBC One all round with a new edition of the Antiques Roadshow seen by 6.7 million viewers at 7.30pm.