Extras holds up against competition from Ancient Rome

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by Mark Banham

September 22, 2006

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Extras holds up against competition from Ancient Rome

LONDON - A cameo appearance by David Bowie helped the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant comedy 'Extras' keep its audience figures stable during the second episode of the series, despite a challenge from BBC One's new series 'Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire'.

The sitcom recorded a total audience of 3.7m, or a 17% share, slightly up on last week's audience total of 3.6m viewers.

The episode, broadcast at 9pm on BBC Two, included music icon Bowie performing a damning musical indictment of Andy Millman, played by Gervais, to a full nightclub.

'Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire' drew in an average of 4.2m viewers or a 20% share of the total viewing audience, who tuned in to see Michael Sheen's stunning turn as the Emperor Nero, in the first outing of the new series.

On ITV1, the documentary 'I Smack and I'm Proud' was down on its average 4.5m viewers for the 9pm slot as it recorded a 3.8m audience, or a 19% share.

Channel 4 fared poorly as well, recording a 1.1m audience, or 6% share, for the second part of the drama 'Low Winter Sun', just beating the performance of Five in the 9pm timeslot. Five registered 1m viewers, or a 5% share for its 'Ann Maurice: Interior Rivalry' reality show.

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