‘It was a binding experience’: TV producers mourn decline of hot 9pm slot

UK broadcasters used to rely on big audiences at 9pm, but as viewing habits change, figures are falling below the 1m mark

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ast month something unusual happened in the television world. At 9pm, traditionally a crucial time slot for Britain’s main broadcasters, none of their shows were able to attract an average audience of 1 million viewers.

An ITV documentary about Madeleine McCann was the most popular in the slot, drawing a broadcast audience of less than 900,000 viewers. It happened again less than a week later when ITV’s thriller Coldwater narrowly beat Channel 5’s Fare Dodgers: At War With the Law. The unwelcome phenomenon has since happened for a third time.

TV insiders think the regular failure to breach the 1 million mark is unprecedented. “Twenty years ago, thinking about falling below a million would have been just so outlandish,” said Liam Hamilton, a former ITV executive who spotted the trend.