The BBC’s Great Pottery Throw Down launched with 1.9 million viewers on Tuesday night, but was beaten by detective shows on BBC1 and ITV as well as Channel 4’s 24 hours in A&E.
It was up against tough competition in the 9pm time slot including the final season of Lewis on ITV, which drew 4 million viewers and BBC1’s dark crime drama River, starring Stellan Skarsgard, which picked up 2.7 million.
Throw Down features 10 contestants vying to produce ceramic masterpieces, borrowing from the formula of BBC hit The Great British Bake Off.
Its audience represented less than 10% of the audience in its time slot, compared with almost 19% who watched Kevin Whately as Lewis.
Though the figures are far below the sort of audiences that Bake Off has pulled in this year, producers are unlikely to panic just yet.
Bake Off premiered in 2010 with just 2.5 million viewers at a time when more people were focused on traditional TV viewing on the main channels. By the end of the fifth season last month it was bringing in an average of 12 million viewers and the final, which saw Nadiya Jamir Hussain win the trophy, attracted more than 13 million, making it the most-watched show of the year.
Other attempts to replicate Bake Off’s success have met with mixed results. While The Great British Sewing Bee has averaged audiences of more than 2 million into its third series, The Big Allotment Challenge has been a ratings disappointment since premiering in 2014 with the same audience numbers as Throw Down.
Bake Off’s success has been attributed to its ability to make viewers care about its contestants as they go through an emotional rollercoaster of baking challenges. However, it was one of ceramics designer Keith Brymer Jones, who provided the most emotional moment of Tuesday’s opening episode, breaking in to tears over some of the first creations to emerge from the kiln.
