Dallas Returns To Low Ratings On Channel 5

The second series of Dallas kicked off on Channel 5 last night just a day after its American broadcast but the revived 1980s oil and scandal drama failed to pull in the viewers.

The second series launched at 9pm in the UK last night with the first of Larry Hagman’s last episodes as J.R Ewing. The actor passed away last year after completing five episodes of 15 of the second series. Dallas producers are planning a proper tribute the actor and character later in the season with a funeral episode which will see original series actors such as Deborah Shelton return.

The Tuesday evening 9pm slot proved to tough for Dallas as the drama pulled in just 740,000 viewers. A further 80,000 viewers watched an hour later via the Channel 5 time-shift channel. That’s considerably down on the season one average for Dallas as well as the first episode of the revival itself which pulled in well over 3 million viewers.

Stateside the season two premier on TNT, on Monday evening, pulled in 3 million viewers which – again – is down on last year’s launch. However, the ratings are expected to rise once DVR figures are taken into account.

You can read ATV Today’s review of Dallas’s second season opener here >>

[Written by Doug Lambert]