Still Open All Hours ends with 8 million viewers
The end of Still Open All Hours last night attracted almost eight million viewers to BBC One.
According to initial overnight figures, the sixth and final instalment of the revived sitcom's first series was seen by 7,855,000 viewers - and peaked over the 8 million mark.
That number will only rise in coming days as viewing figures from other sources, such as iPlayer and other catch-up recordings, go towards final consolidated totals.
A BBC spokesperson told the British Comedy Guide today: "It's too early to say anything about another series, but we're absolutely delighted with how well the series has been received by audiences."
Written by Roy Clarke, the series is an updated revival of the 1970s/80s hit sitcom Open All Hours, which starred Ronnie Barker as shopkeeper Albert Arkwright, and David Jason as his put-upon nephew, Granville.
The new series sees Granville still running the Arkwright corner shop following his uncle's death, now assisted by his ladies'-man son, Leroy.
Starring Sir David Jason alongside a cast including original series regulars Lynda Baron, Stephanie Cole and Maggie Ollerenshaw, the show also includes comedy stars Johnny Vegas (Benidorm), Brigit Forsyth (Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?), Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me) and Tim Healy (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet).
Still Open All Hours steadily built its viewership as the series progressed to levels normally only seen in the multi-channel era for highlights in the Christmas schedules.
Episode 1 (broadcast on Boxing Day 2014) attracted 5.69 million viewers; Episode 2 - on Sunday 28th December - was seen by 6.39m people; Episode 3 had 6.12m; 6.37m for Episode 4; 7.12 for the penultimate Episode 5 last week; and 7.86 million last night - a 34.1% share of the total viewing audience in its 7:30pm timeslot. The figures total to a series average of 6.6 million viewers for each episode in overnight ratings alone.
The high figures are being welcomed by BBC bosses, when many contemporary series struggle to reach even the one million viewer mark.
The show's success continues the run of increasing popularity for traditional studio sitcoms, and comedies with broad appeal across generational divides.
ITV are currently enjoying ratings of around 3-4 million viewers per episode for the eleventh (second revived) series of 1990s BBC comedy hit Birds Of A Feather; meanwhile, the BBC has also enjoyed large viewing figures for Mrs Brown's Boys, Not Going Out, Miranda and Citizen Khan in recent months.
A fourth series of the latter programme is due to air late in 2015, but with both Miranda and Not Going Out having drawn to a close at Christmas, and Mrs. Brown's Boys facing an uncertain future, the BBC is likely to be looking for other similar comedies to fill the gap.
In the following clip from Still Open All Hours Series 1, Granville shares his bacon preservation trick with Leroy.