The ITV’s flagship period drama titled ‘Downton Abbey’ premiered in United Kingdom with surprisingly low ratings. The show got premiered on Sunday at 9 PM local time and is touted as the 6th and the final season for the period drama which has been extremely popular during its 5 season run. The earlier seasons did fare well on the UK television, so the lacklustre response from the viewers towards the final season premiere had the show runners confused.
Premiering with 7.6 Million viewers on its UK debut, this is the lowest viewership count since the show first aired in the country in 2010. But however lacklustre the response of the watchers may be to the show, it was still the most watched TV show on the Sunday night easily faring ahead of the British newcomer shows such as BBC One’s much hyped drama ‘The Go Between’ which only managed to get some 2.6 Million pair of eyeballs. The start is slow for ‘Abbey’ but we sure do hope that it will catch up somehow.
However the statistics have certainly fluctuated over time for the show, but show’s past few year’s premieres have shown a quite steady share in the high 30’s. The viewers collected by Season 5 last year were counted as 8.43 Million and a 38 share in the overnight, which in turn were around 1 million less than the season 4 premiere. When Live +7s were tallied, the numbers rose to 10.7 Million viewers and a 41 share, the 2nd best for a kick-off after the previous year. This launch will see an increase once the consolidated figures are culled.
However, if we neglect not so exciting ratings for the beginning of the final season, we can certainly say that the episode has got some pretty good reviews and we can certainly assume that as the season progresses, we will be seeing a lot more enthusiasm from the fans, especially in the United Kingdom. The show won’t be starting in the U.S. until before January 3, 2015, so without giving any spoilers, we can only say that the show has got everything one desires in a drama. There is quite a lot be excited about. There is a blackmail, some really shady and uncomfortable discussions about the future and at least one Dowager Countess quip that could rival “What is a weekend?” when all is said and done.
The show will see its end on the Christmas this year with a special episode and while there are talks of a potential movie in progress, we can safely assume beforehand that the makers are going to surprise us. Executive producer Gareth Neame, producer Liz Trubridge and the cast have all mentioned that they hold strong beliefs that this year is the right time to go for the drama that has been a key figure in this new Golden Age of television.
>