'Dallas' Debut Boosts Ratings for U.K.'s Channel 5

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LONDON - The rebooted Dallas made its U.K. TV debut Wednesday night with ratings for Channel 5 that came in well above its typical viewership.

The drama based on the 1980s hit show, which in the U.S. just ended its first season on TNT, averaged 2.9 million viewers for Channel 5 in the 9 p.m. time slot. That gave the British network a share of 13.1 percent of all people watching TV at the time.

That was below the 4 million viewers that new ITV1 drama Mrs Biggs reached in the same time slot and BBC1's Who Do You Think You Are?, which attracted 4.1 million.

But the return of the U.S. family saga after 21 years brought Channel 5 an audience share that was nearly double its average in the time slot over the last three months, according to the Guardian.

 TNT earlier this summer renewed Dallas for a second season.

The series, starring Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julie Gonzalo and Brenda Strong along with original stars Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman, early on became U.S. basic cable's No. 1 new show.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai