ITV Player, the broadcaster's catch-up TV service, crashed last night after thousands of users went online to watch the first episode of the new series of Downton Abbey.
Viewers hoping to catch up on the return of the acclaimed period drama after it aired on ITV1 at 9pm last night to nearly 9m viewers were left disappointed after ITV Player only showed three adverts on a loop instead of the programme.
Later, an apology was posted on the site saying that ITV was experiencing "technical difficulties" and could not offer the show at the time. The problems were thought to have lasted for at least another two hours after the apology was released.
An ITV spokesman said in a statement: "We are investigating and apologise to those who were unable to use the service during this time."
Frustrated viewers used Twitter to complain about the crash, but the ITV Player official Twitter account failed to respond.
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:08 pm