Karl Pilkington's An Idiot Abroad draws more than 800,000 viewers

Sky1's new Karl Pilkington series An Idiot Abroad launched with more than 800,000 viewers last night, Thursday 23 September. The show features Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sending Pilkington to visit seven wonders of the modern world, starting last night with China and the Great Wall. An Idiot Abroad debuted with an average of 821,000 viewers and a 3.5% audience share from 9pm. This was Sky1's best figures for a new show since its latest Terry Pratchett drama adaptation, Going Postal, in May, attracting more than triple the channel's average share in the Thursday 9pm slot over the past three months. An Idiot Abroad was the fourth most popular multichannel show of the day, behind the launch of the final ITV2 series of What Katie Did Next (9pm: 1.365 million/5.9% including ITV2 +1) before Katie Price switches to BSkyB-owned Living, ITV2's Celebrity Juice (10pm: 1.146 million/6.2% including ITV2 +1) and BBC3's EastEnders repeat (953,000). Five main terrestrial analogue networks BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5 (available in all UK homes with TV, except Channel 5, which reaches about 95%) BBC1 9pm: Lost Land of the Tiger - 4.527 million/19.5%, BBC HD 191,000/0.8% BBC2 8pm: Highgrove: Alan Meets Prince Charles - 1.862 million/8%, BBC HD 65,000/0.3% ITV1/ITV1 HD 9pm: Law & Order: UK - 4.406 million/19% Channel 4 8pm: River Cottage Everyday (new series) - 2.117 million/9.1% (including C4 +1) Channel 5 8pm: Building Super Bridge: Megastructures - 541,000/2.3% All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, HD, +1 or other – unless otherwise stated • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".