Taskmaster on Dave
Friday 4 January 2019
UKTV Originals topped 2018 ratings on six of UKTVs channels - Dave, W, Gold, Drama, Yesterday and Really - and on UKTV Play
Top three shows on UKTVs network were UKTV Originals - Taskmaster, Death on the Tyne and Murder on the Blackpool Express
Emmy and BAFTA nominated Taskmaster was the most watched show on UKTVs free on demand service, UKTV Play, followed by UKTV Originals Judge Romesh and Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier
UKTV Play saw a 36% increase in views year-on-year, generating over 140 million views in 2018 and attracting 1.8 million registered users
UKTVs commissioning strategy continues to bear fruit with UKTV Originals driving younger viewers to UKTV Play and remaining the most watched programmes on the network in 2018.
Darren Childs, UKTV CEO, said:
Our strategy of creating distinctive, ambitious and compelling new shows is continuing to pay off. Im incredibly proud that for the first time, UKTV Originals were the top rating shows on six of UKTVs channels and on UKTV Play last year. The breadth and depth of our channels offer a rich mix of opportunities for advertisers, and UKTV Play, which generated over 140 million views and attracted 1.8 million registered users in 2018, provides a data rich environment for targeted advertising.
UKTV Originals and Channels In 2018 UKTV worked with more independent producers than ever before and produced or developed over 120 new shows. The broadcaster built on its commissioning success with UKTV Originals becoming the most watched shows on six of UKTVs channels - Taskmaster (Dave), Emma Willis: Delivering Babies (W), Death on the Tyne (Gold), Murder on the Blackpool Express (Drama), Abandoned Engineering (Yesterday), Inside the Ambulance (Really).
__
Death on the Tyne on Gold
On Dave, UKTVs biggest commissioning channel, four out of the top five shows were UKTV Originals - Taskmaster, Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier, Judge Romesh and Zapped. Taskmaster was also the most popular show across the network with the most recent series (seven) becoming the most successful to date, with an average of 1.5 million viewers per episode.
Ws commissioning strategy continues to mature and new UKTV Original, Emma Willis: Delivering Babies, was the most watched show on the channel in 2018 (753k). It was followed by Inside the Ambulance which continues to attract a high number of viewers (386k for series three and 359k for series four).
Yesterday grew its share by an impressive 11.4%. and UKTV Original, Abandoned Engineering, was the most popular show on the channel.
Richard Watsham, UKTVs Director of Commissioning, said:
UKTV is increasing investment into originations yet again and in partnership with top talent, both in front of and behind the camera, its enabling us to strengthen our catalogue of popular and critically acclaimed shows.
This year our aim is to grow original output even further with a series of network firsts. Flack, our first full blown drama series premieres on W in February. Well shortly be in production for a number of crime dramas for Alibi, and Steve Backshall will bring high octane specialist factual to Dave with the stunning Expedition.
We want to build on our strong talent relationships too, Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over kicks off a revitalized slate for W which still has slots to fill and on Dave were looking for female fronted comedy entertainment shows to compliment other high performing hits, led by Taskmaster.
TV On Demand In 2018, UKTV Play continued to grow and had 140 million views across all platforms - a 36% increase on the previous year. In less than 12 months since mandatory registration was introduced, over 1.8 million users have signed up to the service, a third of whom are aged 16-34.
UKTV Originals were the most popular shows on UKTV Play with episodes of Taskmaster, Judge Romesh and Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier taking the top three spots. They also appealed to a young demographic with 69% of registered viewers who watched Taskmaster being aged 16-34, 45% for Judge Romesh and 63% for Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier. In addition, Yianni Supercar Customiser, drew in a large 16-34-year-old audience with 68% of viewers falling into this age range.
In 2018, UKTV also increased distribution of its on demand service. UKTV Play launched on Now TV and Roku streaming players, Freesat, Samsung TV and Go Media.
2019 Brand new programmes coming to UKTV this year include Ws scripted drama Flack, starring Oscar winner Anna Paquin, and a six-part series with Stacey Dooley, Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over. Dave sees the return of scripted comedy Porters, now as a full six-part series and with the original cast joined by the BAFTA nominated actor, Daniel Mays. Sliced, a new three-part comedy series written by Samson Kayo and Phil Bowker follows in the first half of this year, along with a ten-part adventure series, Expedition with Steve Backshall, as well as new series of Taskmaster and Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier. And, Sir David Jason presents his own travelogue - David Jason: Planes, Trains & Automobiles on Gold.
__
Expedition with Steve Backshall on Dave
Stats Measurement
All data BARB Adults 16+ except programme data which is individuals.
Top performing programme lists are consolidated viewing, BARB consolidated ratings includes catch-up, or time-shifted viewing that happened up to seven days after the original broadcast.
Programme viewing stats are all Total Consumption unless otherwise stated. Total Consumption is the measurement of all viewing to a single premiere linear transmission of a show. It encompasses the overnight, PVR, VOD, D2C and paid, narrative repeats within seven days of the broadcast window, and the 8-28 day PVR viewing within BARB.
UKTV Play figures include third party broadcasters and UKTVs own platform data.
UKTV Play top ratin
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Taskmaster on Dave
