Series 1-4 Series 5-8
These lists of episode viewing figures are taken from the ratings as published in Radio Times each week from 1990 until the turn of the century.
For context the BBC1 top ten placing is included. This was calculated by using only the highest rating of programmes with multiple episodes each week to ensure the top ten wasn’t dominated by soaps. Although the ratings may decline over time, the positioning within the chart shows how the show performed in the context of BBC1.
Whilst back issues of Radio Times are one of the few places these figures can be obtained from, they are incomplete for two reasons. Every Christmas publication deadlines were pulled forward
to allow the Christmas issue to be on sale earlier and longer (to a greater extent
as the decade rolled on) meaning for a few weeks ratings wouldn’t be published at all.
Also, if a show didn’t make the top ten, you don’t see it here – something that will make these guides more incomplete towards the end of the decade.
Not a single episode in the final series of the Roadshow made BBC1’s weekly top ten.
In contrast when the House Party launched in a similar slot, it immediately hit 11 million,
growing over the run and eventually peaking at 15.47m for the long-awaited Dave Lee Travis Gotcha episode. Whilst Edmonds and Leggo would have had high hopes for the new show, the format appears to have been a smash hit from the start, surely beating all expectations.
23/11/92 not published in Radio Times
30/11/91 11.16m (5th in BBC1 top ten)
07/12/91 11.11m (8th)
21/12/91 12.25m (4th)
04/01/92 9.85m (9th – fall likely due to earliest ever slot of 1720)
11/01/92 – not in BBC1 top ten (less than 11.15m)
18/01/92 11.34m (7th)
25/01/92 11.09m (5th)
01/01/92 12.45 (6th) (BBC Four repeat: 06/08/22, 105,000)
08/02/92 11.87m (8th)
15/02/92 13.15m (5th)
22/02/92 13.72m (4th)
29/02/92 13.46m (6th)
07/03/92 12.72m (5th)
14/03/92 13.04m (6th)
21/03/92 15.47m (3rd)
28/03/92 14.85m (3rd)
Another hugely successful series with the Boxing Day show the highest rated show in the show’s entire run (unexpectedly beating The Darling Buds of May on ITV), though it should be noted 2nd January wasn’t far behind. Even the unseasonal repeat of Christmas Presents on 6th March managed to keep 11.53m tuned in, though this may have been due to frequent on-screen promises that the show would eventually follow.
24/10/92 11.18m (8th in BBC1 top ten)
31/10/92 13.39m (4th)
07/11/92 – 19/12/92 not published in Radio Times
26/12/92 15.93m (6th)
02/01/93 15.45m (3rd)
09/01/93 13.20m (4th)
16/01/93 13.58m (4th)
23/01/93 12.85m (6th)
30/01/93 12.73m (6th)
06/02/93 12.84m (6th)
13/02/93 13.10m (5th)
20/02/93 13.07m (7th)
27/02/93 12.72m (8th)
06/03/93 Noel’s Christmas Presents 11.53m (6th)
13/03/93 12.34m (4th)
Although most shows didn’t get past the 11m/12m mark this series there were no signs of the show’s popularity declining as it remained consistently in the middle of BBC1’s top ten.
23/10/93 11.64m (5th in BBC1 top ten)
30/10/93 12.54m (4th)
06/11/93 11.73m (7th)
13/11/93 12.66m (5th)
20/11/93 – 18/12/93 not published in Radio Times
01/01/94 12.05m (7th)
08/01/94 12.06m (6th)
15/01/94 12.56m (4th)
22/01/94 12.18m (6th)
29/01/94 11.88m (6th)
05/02/94 12.14m (4th)
12/02/94 11.90m (6th)
19/02/94 13.27m (4th)
26/02/94 12.06m (6th)
05/03/94 11.50m (4th)
12/03/94 11.97m (5th)
19/03/94 11.51m (5th)
26/03/94 12.39m (3rd)
Again, whilst a slight decline in overall numbers the programme remained a fixture in the top ten in roughly the same position as before, indicating viewing on BBC1 (or overall) was slightly down as competition increased. In contrast with the slight slump in the programme on screen, ratings actually rose towards the end of the run, topping 13m for the final time for Noel’s comeuppance (though some of these extra viewers will no doubt have been those tuning in for the lottery as the show overran).
22/10/94 11.85m (4th in BBC1 top ten)
29/10/94 11.23m (4th)
05/11/94 not in BBC1 top ten – in theory less than 9.22m, possibly an error
12/11/94 11.99m (4th)
26/11/94 – 10/12/94 not published in Radio Times
17/12/94 11.07m (6th)
31/12/94 not in BBC1 top ten – less than 12.15m
07/01/95 11.36m (8th)
14/01/95 11.49m (6th)
21/01/95 11.68m (6th)
28/01/95 11.25m (8th)
04/02/95 11.00m (9th)
11/02/95 11.51m (6th)
18/02/95 11.64m (7th)
25/02/95 11.58m (7th)
04/03/95 12.20m (8th)
11/03/95 12.23m (6th)
18/03/95 12.58m (6th)
25/03/95 13.08m (5th)
Noel's House Party At 30 