After dumping Neighbours, Channel 5 looks to more UK drama.
Channel 5 is enjoying a lift in ratings and profit thanks to All Creatures Great & Small.
- Published by David Knox
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UK Channel 5 is enjoying a lift in ratings following the success of its locally-made dramas such as All Creatures Great & Small.
The third series was watched by 3.8m viewers and helped boost its audience share for a fourth consecutive year. Ratings were up 1% to an overall share of 4.5% last year, compared with 4.47% in 2021. This was against a backdrop of other broadcasters, including Channel 4, losing audience share.
Last year Channel 5 announced it would end its commissioning of Neighbours to focus on UK made dramas -although it has several mini-series co-productions with the Neighbours production team lead by producer Jason Herbison.
US media reports the broadcaster is in talks to turn international bestseller Hardacre into a series set in Yorkshire.
Variety reports Paramount’s British broadcaster also reported earnings for 2021 (NB: Neighbours exited mid 2022).
The company’s operating profit hit a record high of £71.7M ($AU126.6m), wiping out the loss of £7.1m ($12.5m) in 2020. The previous record was £58.4m ($103.1m) in 2016.
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One Response
The first series of All Creatures Great and Small rated 6 to 6.7m across the Wednesday and Sunday repeat, plus streaming. It’s also done well on Britbox, the ABC and PBS. As James and Helen’s courtship concludes, and they have used up many of the best stories from the early books and have to start creating new ones it’s dropped. Dalgliesh was faithful to the books but a very slow moving TV show that got mixed reviews. Crossfire, The Secrets The She Keeps and Lie With Me also get mixed reviews, but they rated better in the UK where drama is still strong. So Viacom/Paramount are making a profit after buying Channel 5 for #450m from the UK government in 2014. Can’t say the same for Ten, which the got for a song.