Just 2.6million people saw Lenny’s Britain at 9pm on BBC One – fewer than any other terrestrial channel except Five, which it beat by just a few thousand viewers.
The slot normally attracts 5 million viewers on average; but despite Henry taking part in a string of advance interviews to promote the show, he won just 11 per cent of the viewing audience.
Lenny’s Britain lost out primarily to ITV1 show Britain's Got Talent which was seen by 6.8million viewers – or more than 30 per cent of the total audience – at the same time.
Frank Skinner fared slightly better than Lenny Henry with the first episode of Tough Gig attracting 2.9 million viewers
However, despite its strong lead-in from Britain's Got Talent, the show, which asks comedians to perform in unlikely situations, still struggled. ITV1 has been finding 10pm a difficult time, and Tough Gig's audience was roughly in line with other shows in the same slot.
But with a 14 per cent share, it trailed both BBC One's Ten O'Clock News, with 4.4 million viewers, and Channel 4's Big Brother, with 3.8 million. QI, on BBC Two at the same time, won 2.5million viewers.
