Strong Ratings For Black Mirror and Spartacus Returns

The return of Black Mirror to Channel Four and Spartacus to Sky One proved to be rating winners for their respective broadcasters last night.

Historical drama Spartacus: War of the Damned kicked off its third and final season on Sky One last night at 10pm. The American import, starring Liam McIntyre and Dustin Clare, charts the slave rebellion led by Spartacus; it mixes the visual style of 300 with the sex and politics of Rome. Overnight ratings reveal the premier of War of the Damned was seen by 320,000 viewers which is significantly higher than the slot average for Sky One on Mondays at 10pm.

Charlie Brooker’s anthology series Black Mirror returned to Channel Four at 10pm last night to strong ratings. The opening instalment had 1.6 million viewers which while down slightly on last year’s figures is still higher than the slot average for the past few months.

Prior to Black Mirror on Channel 4 was a one-off special of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding which pulled in 4.1 million viewers. The drama out performed the third part of Stephen Poliakoff’s BBC Two drama Dancing on the Edge which had 1.7 million viewers. It was only just behind BBC One’s Penguins – Spy in the Huddle which had 4.6 million viewers. However, the 9pm slot was won by ITV drama Lewis which pulled in 6.3 million viewers.