LotSW's highest ratings

[PKDurham]

Thanks to being able to access old newspapers for work, I've been looking through for old references to LotSW, saving any articles and references which I may post at some point. But I've also found, in the express, weekly tv charts, which shows just how many people watched the show in the 70s & 80s. The highest viewing figures I've found so far, seem to be Series 5, which was helped by being broadcast opposite a very long ITV strike.

I can't find the chart that would show what Full Steam Ahead got, but for the rest of the series, the ratings were as followed


The Flag and it's Snags - 20.90m
The Flag and Further Snags - 21.90
Deep in the Heart of Yorkshire - 21.65
Earnshaw Strikes Again - 22.20
Here we go into the Wild Blue Yonder - 19.55
Here we go Again into the Wild Blue Yonder - 13.05 (the strike had ended by this time)


So "Earnshaw Strikes Again" had the most viewers with a massive 22.20 million viewers, the chart is shown attached

 

[Pearl]

That's very interesting, if you have more please post them. Thank you

 

[Sarkus]

There used to be a lot of viewership numbers in the Wikipedia articles for various series but a lot of that has been edited out. Some still remains, like the 1988 Christmas special, Crums, having 17.1m viewers.

In general from what Andrew Vine says in his book, the ratings peaked in Series 5, then dropped to very good in Series 6 and slowly declined, especially after the Seymour period.

 

[barmpot]

Even 13 million (when ITV resumed) would still be a very good figure. The decline was alos due to the increasing number of alternative channels from the late 1980s onwards.

 

[codfanglers]

Thanks to being able to access old newspapers for work, I've been looking through for old references to LotSW, saving any articles and references which I may post at some point. But I've also found, in the express, weekly tv charts, which shows just how many people watched the show in the 70s & 80s. The highest viewing figures I've found so far, seem to be Series 5, which was helped by being broadcast opposite a very long ITV strike.

I can't find the chart that would show what Full Steam Ahead got, but for the rest of the series, the ratings were as followed


The Flag and it's Snags - 20.90m
The Flag and Further Snags - 21.90
Deep in the Heart of Yorkshire - 21.65
Earnshaw Strikes Again - 22.20
Here we go into the Wild Blue Yonder - 19.55
Here we go Again into the Wild Blue Yonder - 13.05 (the strike had ended by this time)


So "Earnshaw Strikes Again" had the most viewers with a massive 22.20 million viewers, the chart is shown attached

It was really interesting to view this thumbnail and view other shows' rankings at the time. Sorry if I am getting off track with these questions, but here it goes.

For how long was To A Manor Born at the top or near the top? That show was on for a while here but I never got into it.

For how long was Are you Being Served ranked really high and was it ever at the very top? I am just curious.


It was also interesting to see a few US shows there.