Of course, ratings don't have any bearing on the quality of a TV series, but I always find them interesting. They're the only way to see what people watch every week, and it's eye-opening to realize Primeval got more viewers than Lost, Torchwood and Prison Break combined!
Of the shows I review (currently/recently airing in the UK), here are the latest ratings -- in descending order:
#1. ASHES TO ASHES: the new Life On Mars spin-off pulls in about 7 million viewers every Thursday, making it the 9th most popular show on BBC1. The week-behind repeat that follows on BBC Four gets 515,000 viewers – making it that channel's top show. Incidentally, the Life On Mars repeats on Bravo are that channel's most popular show -- getting 147,00 viewers every Tuesday.
#2. PRIMEVAL: the monster-based action series is the 14th most popular series on ITV1, getting about 6.44m viewers on Saturdays.
#3. TORCHWOOD: the second season for this Doctor Who spin-off is BBC2's highest-rated series -- with 3.79 million viewers every Wednesday. The recently-started premieres on BBC Three immediately afterwards get about 849,000 viewers.
#4. LOST: the new fourth season of the island mystery-adventure series, airing 3 days behind the US, is Sky One's biggest show -- pulling in about 1.4 million every Sunday.
#5. TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES: this new sci-fi series (being shown 6 weeks behind its US transmission) gave Virgin1 its biggest hit of the year so far -- with 642,000 viewers tuning in for the premiere.
#6. PRISON BREAK: the third year of the US prison-set thriller, airing a few weeks behind its US transmission, was Sky One's 9th most popular show -- snaring about 445,000 every Monday.
#7. RAINES: this cancelled US police procedural, about a detective who solves crimes with the help of imaginary victims, gets about 374,000 for ITV3 every Monday, making it their 6th most popular show.
