Blue Planet II and Strictly Come Dancing dominate ratings war as BBC bags biggest audiences

HUGE ratings for Blue Planet II and Strictly Come Dancing have given BBC One the top five biggest TV audiences of 2017 so far.

The second episode of the Sir David Attenborough-fronted nature series was watched by 13.97 million people, new figures show.

This was only just behind the 14.01 million who saw episode one, and means Blue Planet II is now responsible for the two largest TV audiences of the year.

In third and fourth place is Strictly Come Dancing, which attracted audiences of 12.28 million and 11.96 million for the shows on October 28 and November 4 respectively.

Fifth is the One Love Manchester concert, which was watched by 11.63 million in June.

Blue Planet II has dazzled viewers with its groundbreaking film of creatures surviving in the depths of the world’s oceans, along with close-up footage of animals living and playing above the surface.

Given the enormous ratings it has enjoyed so far, every episode of the seven-part series could end up in the top 10 biggest audiences of 2017.

Strictly Come Dancing is already pulling in a record number of viewers for this stage of the contest, and could well see its ratings rise even higher ahead of the final next month.

The success of both programmes will cheer the BBC, which this year has had to do without its former ratings blockbuster The Great British Bake Off.

Audiences of nearly 16 million tuned in for the 2016 series of Bake Off on BBC One.

Ratings for this year’s series on Channel 4 peaked at the lower figure of 10 million.

Meanwhile, ITV will be hoping to make a dent in the BBC’s success with the return of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, which begins on November 19.

Last year I’m A Celebrity attracted audiences of up to 12.7 million.

All ratings figures are published by Barb.

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