TV ratings: Benidorm's return is down from last year

Benidorm​'s return lost around a million viewers from last year's launch, while Silent Witness​ was the top attraction on Monday night.



ITV comedy drama Benidorm​'s eighth series premiered to an average overnight audience of 4.58m (18.7%) at 9pm (468,000/3.0% on +1). This is down from 2015's opener which had 5.61m (23.6%).

On BBC One, Silent Witness​ continued with 6.16m (26.4%) at 9pm, while Tracey Ullman's Show​ debuted with 2.85m (23.6%) at 10.35pm.

BBC Two's University Challenge​ quizzed 3.00m (12.9%) at 8pm, followed by Only Connect​ with 2.44m (10.7%) at 8.30pm.

Channel 4's How to Lose Weight Well​ appealed to 2.03m (8.8%) at 8pm (307k/1.3%), while The Undateables​ brought in 1.59m (6.8%) at 9pm (386k/2.4%). New comedy Crashing​ started with 511k (2.9%) at 10pm (109k/1.1%).

On Channel 5, the latest Celebrity Big Brother ​entertained 1.77m (7.6%) at 9pm (311k/2.0%), followed by the new series of Gotham​ with 789k (4.9%) at 10pm (107k/1.2%).

I like Benidorm, it's one of the very few shows I watch. Sadly, I think the writers are running out of ideas. Possibly time to pension it off?