Barb has today invited ratings anoraks like me to take a trip down memory lane. The UK ratings body has put up a microsite on its main website looking back over the 25 years since it was set up by the BBC and ITV in 1981.
The feature includes a ratings top 10 for every year since 1981 - only BBC1 and ITV get a look-in. And most top 10s are dominated by ITV. We bang on all the time about how the growth of multichannel has changed TV viewing. But the Barb 25th timeline is a startling reminder of the humungous ratings the most popular programmes could attract back in the five channel 80s (four terrestrials, plus Sky Channel on satellite).
Most years during that decade, a show needed at least 15 million viewers even to think about being considered for the top 10 club. An estimated 39 million watched the Royal Wedding, simulcast on BBC1 and ITV, back in 1981. And 23 million saw Jaws on ITV in the same year.
Perhaps more surprising is the figures more run of the mill shows could attract. 17.35 million viewers for Family Fortunes on ITV in 1982; 15.95 million for Last of the Summer Wine the following year on BBC1; 17.6 million watching a Christmas edition of Bullseye on ITV in 1984.
So it may have been a golden age of mass audience TV - but most people were watching gameshows and Miss World.
