Quiet ratings start for 'The Farm'

Five's rural reality series The Farm got off to a slow ratings start on Monday night, according to early figures.

The launch show, broadcast between 10.30pm and 11.35pm, was seen by an average of 1.17 million viewers and a 9.2% audience share. The figure is up slightly on the first series opener, which had 1.1 million and a 6% share last September.

It managed to top Channel 4's new topical discussion series FAQ U, which had just 404,000 viewers (4%) from 11.05pm.

Earlier in the evening, Coronation Street's double-bill topped the ratings with audiences of 10.91 million (53.7%) and 9.92 million (43.1%) at 7.30pm and 8.30pm respectively. EastEnders had 9.64 million (44.5%) for third, with Emmerdale following in fourth on 8.39 million (45.5%).

BBC One's detective drama New Tricks made a sizeable ratings return in the 9pm hour with an average of 7.5 million (32.6%). ITV1's movie premiere of About A Boy had 4.86 million (22.1%) between 9pm and 10.30pm.

Sylvester Stallone's The Contender ranked as multichannel's top original programme of the day, bringing in an average of 430,000 viewers (2.7%) to ITV2 in the 9pm hour. A second episode held on to 372,000 (3%) an hour later.

LivingTV put up an admirable defence with 417,000 (2.6%) for a new CSI at 9pm, while on E4, Smallville averaged 198,000 (1.3%).

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com