Princess Diana tapes documentary is Channel 4’s biggest hit this year with 3.5 MILLION viewers
Diana: In Her Own Words gave C4 its highest overnight viewing figures in a year
Best watched documentary on C4 in three years with peak of 4.1million viewers
Average of 3.5million viewers watched programme between 8pm and 9.50pm
But programme was beaten by series finale of BBC One’s period drama Poldark
he controversial documentary on Princess Diana shown on Channel 4 last night gave the broadcaster its biggest documentary audience in more than three years.
Diana: In Her Own Words saw the broadcaster defy criticism to air private video recordings in which Diana revealed details of her s*x life with Prince Charles.
But while the programme scored Channel 4 its highest overnight viewing figures in over a year, it was beaten by the series finale of BBC One’s period drama Poldark.
The Diana documentary, which aired from 8pm until 9.50pm, was watched by an average audience of 3.5million and a 4.1million peak, according to overnight ratings.
These figures include those watching on Channel 4+1 an hour later. The final episode of the third series of Poldark drew in an average of 4.9 million viewers
Poldark beat the Diana documentary by over one million – and is an even bigger win when it is considered that BBC One does not have a plus one channel.
The Diana documentary attracted the most overnight viewers for Channel 4 since an episode of Googlebox in April last year, which saw 3.9million tune in.
It has become the most-watched Channel 4 documentary since a February 2014 episode of Benefits Street had 4.5million viewers.
The controversial programme, which received two complaints to regulator Ofcom, also doubled the channel’s average for the time slot, giving it a 131 per cent boost.
It was also aired at the same time as the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had an average audience of 2.1million on ITV and 580,000 on ITV+1.
Poldark, starring Aidan Turner, was delayed by five minutes in its 9pm slot due to overrunning coverage of the Athletics World Championships.
The last episode of series two of the Cornish drama, which aired in November, saw 5.8million viewers tune in.
The live coverage of the Athletics World Championships averaged 6million viewers, with a peak of 9 million for the men’s 100m final on Saturday night.
Source: DAILYMAIL MAILONLINE
Tags: Prince Charles, Prince William, Charles William and Harry, ITV, Googlebox, Channel, Controversial, Viewers, Channel 4, Diana New Documentary
