Flop Gear

The Telegraph reports:

Top Gear returned to our screens with Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc at the helm- but fans of the show turned off as it attracted its lowest opening show viewing figures in a decade and was widely panned on social media. 

The show drew 4.4 million viewers, with a peak of 4.7 million, while the last series with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May bowed out with 5.8 million viewers.

Evans said last week he would be ‘disappointed’ if the show attracted under 5 million viewers.

“If we had to guess about the number of viewers we are going to get on Sunday night, you have got to say you would be disappointed if it was under 5 million. Five million-plus would be great, after that it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Evans today claimed figures showed the Top Gear had officially been a hit,  claiming it had taken 23 per cent of the audience share and that it was the most watched item on iPlayer.

The reviews have ranged from awful to okay. If they couldn’t get 5 million for their first episode, I doubt they will for any others.