[Kaz]

Story from Ananova

BBC1 slumped to its lowest ratings of the year last week when Fame Academy dragged the network's audience share down to 23.7%.

Overnight ratings figures for July show BBC1 has also had its worst monthly audience share for the year to date.

Last Wednesday, Fame Academy was watched by just 3.2 million viewers and attracted a 16% audience share, says the Media Guardian.

On Saturday night, the show mustered only 3.3 million viewers between 6.30pm and 7.30pm - 900,000 down on its opening episode the previous weekend. The Fame Academy results show at 8.15pm fared better, attracting 4.2 million viewers and a 25% audience share.

However, BBC1 was still ahead of ITV1 last week and for July as a whole. In the seven days to Sunday August 3, ITV1's audience share was 23.4%, while in July the network attracted a share of 22.4%. BBC1's audience share for last month was 25.1%.

Poor performances by the BBC1 peak time line-ups on Wednesday and Saturday - both nights when Fame Academy is broadcast - played a large part in last week's ratings slump.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story, including the link to the Media Guardian article.

Very disappointing viewing figures - let's hope they improve once the programme 'proper' starts.