Line of Duty and Bodyguard among most watched dramas of the decade
Line of Duty has become one of top five most-watched dramas of the decade.
The show’s nail-biting fifth series finale on Sunday, 5 May, attracted a TV audience of 12.1 million, according to new figures.
The finale pulled to ge ther threads from all previous series – but left viewers still uncertain of the identity of the “bent copper” known as “H”. The viewing figures were enough to rank it above some of the decade’s other big-hitters, such as Broadchurch and Call the Midwife.
But it’s not quite in the same league as Body guard, whose finale last year enjoyed a TV audience of 14.3 million.
Body guard remains this decade’s most-watched drama series, followed by Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey.
The hit TV show, starring Scots actor Richard Madden as bodyguard David Budd, lost out on the top prize at Sunday’s Bafta TV awards, but did pick up the the Virgin Media’s MustSee Moment, the only award voted for by viewers for the death of Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) in an explosion.
A second series is being planned, and Maddedn said it could be set up to two years after the events of the season one finale.
The new figures mean two of this decade’s top five dramas – Line of Duty and Bodyguard – are the work of one writer, Jed Mercurio.
Official ratings for the Line of Duty’s finale have been published by Barb. They include people who recorded the episode and watched up to seven days later.
Besides the TV audience of 12.1 million, an additional 600,000 people watched the finale on other devices such as laptops and smar tphones.
The most-watched TV dramas of the decade so far, by highest rated episode were:
1 – Bodyguard (BBC One), September 23 2018: 14.3 million 2– Doctor Who( BBC One ), November 23 2013: 12.8 million 3 – Sherlock (BBC One), January 1 2014: 12.7 million
4– Down ton Abbey( I TV ), November 6 2011, 12.5 million 5 – Line of Duty (BBC One) May 5 2019: 12.1 million