BBC1’s latest adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was watched by nearly 5 million viewers, but failed to hit the ratings heights of Poldark.
Jed Mercurio’s take on the DH Lawrence novel, starring Holliday Grainger and Game of Thrones star Richard Madden, had 4.9 million viewers, a 24.2% share from 9pm on Sunday.
It had the better of ITV’s Ray Winstone drama The Trials of Jimmy Rose, which was watched by 3.8 million viewers, a 17% share, also from 9pm.
But Lady Chatterley’s Lover could not match the 6.9 million (29%) who watched the opening episode of Poldark, starring Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson, BBC1’s most talked about drama of the year to date.
Sunday night has become a key slot for BBC1 drama - period costume and otherwise.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was a one-off 90-minute adaptation, did better than the 4.5 million (20.5%) who saw the start of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell back in May.
More popular was BBC1’s three-part adaptation of JK Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy, which also aired in the 9pm slot on a Sunday night, which began its three part run with 6.6 million (27.5%).
Lady Chatterley’s Love was also up against the free-to-air premiere of Iron Man 2 on Channel 4, the Robert Downey Jr superhero movie watched by 1.9 million viewers (9.7%).
Also at 9pm, the second part of BBC2’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week had 1.3 million viewers (6.2%) neck and neck with Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother (5.5%).
