Saucy French romp Versailles is turning into a hit for BBC2 with nearly 2 million viewers, beating BBC1 for the second week running.
The lavish period drama about the Sun King Louis XIV had 1.7 million viewers, an 8.9% share of the audience from 9pm on Wednesday, only marginally down on the 1.8 million for its launch last week.
It beat BBC1 documentary The Big C and Me, which attracted 1.5 million viewers, for the second week running. Versailles could not quite beat ITV’s Secrets of Growing Up, which drew 1.9 million viewers, with the 9pm ratings honours going to Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody, watched by 2 million viewers (10.8%).
In a rare double for BBC2, Springwatch also beat BBC1 an hour earlier at 8pm, with 2.1 million viewers (12.2%) ahead of BBC1’s Lose Weight for Love, which had 2 million (11.1%).
Versailles is the most expensive French TV series ever made, and was heavily trailed in the press, with the Daily Mail promising “four racy scenes in just 17 minutes – along with gay sex, cross-dressing and nudity galore”.
The second episode proved marginally more restrained, with “only one shag 33 minutes in” according to the Guardian’s review.
Made by French broadcaster Canal+ and bought by the BBC, Versailles is written by two Hollywood-based British writers, David Wolstencroft and Simon Mirren, who met while working on the BBC1 spy series Spooks.
