Ice and Selfridge ratings rollercoaster

Beth Rehearsal

The final of Dancing on Ice manged to improve on its recent declining ratings while popular drama Mr Selfridge bowed out with lower than usual overnight ratings.Beth Tweddle and Daniel Whiston won the ice skating celebrity contest last night with actor Matt Lapinskas in second place and Olympic boxer Luke Campbell in third.

Last year Strictly Come Dancing increased its year-on-year ratings and even managed to beat bitter rivals the X Factor. By contrast ITV’s Dancing on Ice has struggled over its past two series, since the arrival of Christine Bleakley as host and the departure of popular Holly Willoughby who defected to BBC talent show The Voice. The 2012 series had also replaced ‘bitchy’ (or honest) judge Jason Gardiner with the kinder flamboyant Louie Spence. This decision being reversed for the 2013 series failed to pull back the viewers for the majority of the run.

Previous results shows had lows of 5.2 million viewers, however last night’s final sees overnight figures reach a peak audience of 7.5 million viewers  with a 6.9 million average, including the ITV+1 output.

Meanwhile it was the opposite for acclaimed drama Mr Selfridge which had a fall in its overnights. ITV’s lavish period drama. in previous weeks has had a high of 6.4 million in the overnights. The final had a lower figure of 5.8 million viewers which includes the ITV+1 hour later screening.

The series has proved popular with critics and viewers as the period drama follows the life of flamboyant and visionary American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge played by Jeremy Piven.

Created by writer Andrew Davies, Mr Selfridge tells the story of ‘Mile a Minute Harry’, a man with a mission to make shopping as thrilling as sex. Pioneering and reckless, with an almost manic energy, he created a theatre of retail where any topic or trend that was new, exciting, entertaining – or sometimes just eccentric – was showcased.

MR SELFRIDGE

[Reported by Mike Watkins and Doug Lambert]