Poor start for BBC3 comedy

BBC Three’s latest youth comedy has got off to a poor start in the ratings.

University based sitcom Off The Hook, which began life online, attracted just 144,000 viewers last night – half as many as normally tune in to the channel at 10pm on a Thursday.

Clips of the show on YouTube attracted a slew of negative comments, with web users condemning it as an unfunny clone of E4’s The Inbetweeners.

BBC Three’s other new comedy, the office-based sitcom Lunch Monkeys, fared better in the ratings, attracting 403,000 viewers immediately after Off The Hook, roughly in line with the average audience for that slot.

A similar number (402,000) tuned in to see the start of the third series of Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show at 10pm on ITV2, with another 100,000 watching an hour later on ITV2+1.

Here is a clip from Off The Hook:

Published: 11 Sep 2009