Nicola Walker's Annika breaks Alibi records
The new drama has become the channel's biggest ratings hit since at least 2014.
New Nicola Walker drama Annika has broken records to become Alibi's most-watched drama for at least seven years.
The first episode of the series, which aired in the 9pm slot on Tuesday night, attracted 410,000 viewers – 2.5 per cent of the audience share.
That makes it the highest-rated programme since the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) started recording figures in January 2014, managing comfortably more viewers than previous ratings-topper Rizzoli and Isles (360,000).
It was narrowly beaten in the figures for Tuesday night by the final episode of BBC4’s Write Around the World with Richard E Grant, which scored 2.6 per cent of the audience share.
And the figures also showed that the show attracted more male viewers than usual for Alibi, with 44.5 per cent of the audience identifying as male, up from an average of 34.3 per cent for the channel.
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The procedural is adapted by Nick Walker from his popular Radio 4 drama Annika Stranded, and follows the eponymous detective (Nicola Walker, Unforgotten) as she solves various murders on the Scottish coast as the head of a specialist Marine Homicide Unit.
The first episode saw Annika tasked with solving the murder of a man who had been killed by a harpoon to his head, and also introduced her team of police officers which includes characters played by Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones), Jamie Sives (Guilt) and Katie Leung (The Nest).
The show is also notable for deploying the unusual technique of having Annika (who Walker also played on the radio drama) regularly speak to the camera as she shares insights from the case directly with the audience.
The series will consist of six episodes, which will air on subsequent Tuesdays in the same time slot.
The synopsis for episode two reads, "When a body is found on a boat in the Clyde, the case takes the team to the Isle of Bute. Evidence points to a jilted lover, but a darker secret emerges as the team investigate."
Annika continues on Alibi on Tuesday 24th August at 9pm. Looking for something to watch tonight? Visit our TV Guide or check out our Drama hub for all the latest news and features.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
