Prince Harry’s sit-down interview with ITV was beaten in the overnight ratings by the latest instalment of Happy Valley, it’s been reported.
On Sunday night, the Duke of Sussex’s interview with ITV News reporter Tom Bradbury aired in the same time slot as the latest episode of Happy Valley, which returned for its long-awaited third series after a six-year break last week.
The morning after, a tweet from the BBC’s entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba claimed that over a million more people watched episode two of the Sarah Lancashire police drama on BBC One than Harry: The Interview on ITV1.
Citing figures from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), he stated that 4.1 million people watched Prince Harry’s interview live, while 5.25 million tuned in for Happy Valley.
It’s worth noting that these numbers do not include those watching the interview on ITV1+1 or the catch-up service ITVX, where both Harry: The Interview and the Duke of Sussex’s special interview with Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes are both available to watch now.
Over the course of his 90-minute ITV interview, Prince Harry made a string of surprising claims about his life as a member of the Royal Family, as well as commenting on recent news events like Jeremy Clarkson’s much-derided newspaper column about Meghan Markle.
The interview was to promote Prince Harry’s new memoir Spare, which is finally released on Tuesday, although details from the book were leaked in the press last week after it mistakenly went on sale prematurely in some markets.