TV ratings: Viewers losing faith in Luther

BBC1's Idris Elba detective drama Luther comfortably won the 9pm hour again last night, Tuesday 18 May, but has shed nearly 30% of its audience in three weeks. Luther attracted 4.051 million viewers and a 17.9% audience share on BBC1. This was down from BBC1 figures of 5.313 million (21.4%) last Tuesday and 5.646 million (23.8%) for the show's debut on 4 May. Luther's audience share is also declining – down nearly 25% compared with the show's debut two weeks ago. Last Tuesday's Luther benefited from an audience inheritance of nearly 10 million at 9pm from the preceding BBC1 news special , covering new prime minister David Cameron's arrival at Downing Street. Yesterday normal service resumed in the 8pm hour on BBC1, with Holby City attracting 5.706 million (26.7%). Some of the audience decline last night can be attributed to the improved weather and fewer people watching TV compared to last Tuesday – at 22.6 million, some 2.2 million less in the 9pm hour overall. Last Tuesday's political drama with the formation of the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition also boosted the audience for BBC News Channel and Sky News enormously in the 9pm hour, with an average just over 1.3 million viewers for the two networks. This is probably about 10 times their normal combined audience in the slot. The week-on-week decline in the overall TV audience in the 9pm hour was 9%, compared with nearly 24% for Luther. However, Luther's decline does not appear to have benefited the other main channels, with only Channel Five's CSI posting a gain in viewers and share compared with last Tuesday (2.003 million/8.9% v 1.908 million/7.7%). Instead, 9pm shows on various multichannel networks enjoyed week-on-week audience and share gains, not least ITV4's movie repeat Jaws: the Revenge, with 316,000 (1.4%) between 8pm and 9.50pm. Last Tuesday on ITV4 another movie repeat, Jaws 3, drew 218,000 (1%) between 9pm and 10.50pm. Other 9pm multichannel shows with improved figures compared to last Tuesday included ITV2's The Vampire Diaries (565,000/2.5% v 494,000/2%), E4's 90210 (252,000/1.1% v 200,000/0.8%), BBC3's Blood, Sweat and Luxuries (612,000/2.7% v 505,000/2%) and BBC4's Sea Fever 446,000/2% v 225,000/0.9%). Five main terrestrial analogue networks BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel Five (available in all UK homes with TV, except Five, which reaches about 95%) BBC1 7.30pm: EastEnders - 8.24 million/41.3% BBC2 8pm: Theo's Adventure Capitalists - 897,000/4.2% 9pm: The Story of Science - Power, Proof and Passion - 1.718 million/7.6% 10pm: Later Live... with Jools Holland - 632,000/3.3% ITV1 7pm: Emmerdale - 6.062 million/33.3% 8pm: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - 3.187 million/14.9% 9pm: The Bill - 2.662 million/11.8% Channel 4 8pm: Supersize v Superskinny - 1.897 million/8.9%, C4+1 254,000/1.1% 9pm: Heston's Ultimate Feast - 1.864 million/8.3%, C4+1 217,000/1.3% 10pm: Our Daughter, the Mermaid - 1.53 million/9%, C4+1 120,000/1.3% Five 8pm: Cowboy Builders - 1.369 million/6.4% Freeview/digital terrestrial TV free-to-air networks Available in 23.4m UK homes – 91.4% of total – as of 31/12/09. Source: Ofcom digital progress report, Q4 2009 More4 10pm: True Stories: Mugabe and the White African - 220,000/1.5% BBC3 10pm: EastEnders (rpt) - 997,000/5.1% 10.30pm: La La Land - 369,000/2.4% BBC4 8.30pm: The Boats That Built Britain - 385,000/1.7% Virgin 1 9pm: The Naked Office (new series) - 290,000/1.3% Cable and satellite pay-TV networks Available in 12.4m UK homes – 48.2% of total – as of 31/12/09. Source: Ofcom digital progress report, Q4 2009 Living 9pm: Cougar Town - 190,000/0.8% 9.30pm: Cougar Town - 165,000/0.8% Sky1 8pm: Stargate Universe - 366,000/1.7% 10pm: Fringe - 260,000/1.5% All ratings are unofficial live overnight figures, excluding other viewing – including timeshifted (recorded), on demand, HD, +1 or other – unless otherwise stated