Upstairs Downstairs drops below 5 million viewers
BBC One’s period drama Upstairs Downstairs continued to lose viewers on Sunday evening while Wild at Heart ended with over 6 million viewers.
The seventh season of ITV’s Wild at Heart, starring Stephen Tompkinson and Jill Halfpenny, bowed out last night on ITV1 with 6.3 million viewers. The seventh season of the African drama has seen a decline in ratings mostly because of strong drama offerings on BBC One in the form of Sherlock and Call the Midwife. There have been reports that the drop in viewers has prompted ITV to considering cancelling the series – because of the high production costs involved. As yet ITV has not formally announced the fate of Wild at Heart.
Meanwhile on BBC One Upstairs Downstairs, starring Keeley Hawes and Alex Kingston, continued to see its ratings decline. The fourth episode of the period drama dropped to 4.8 million viewers, down from last week’s 5 million. However, the drama has picked up additional viewers through consolidated ratings – which include though who record a programme and watch within seven days. Upstairs Downstairs has gained a fairly significant amount of viewers, from overnight figures, for the three episodes that have aired so far. Last week’s third episode saw ratings grow by 800,000 viewers through consolidated figures.