Going down

"COMING UP ON MAKING WAVES: Sam and Anita struggle to control their feelings for each other knowing that a cross-ranks affair is forbidden. And disaster strikes as HMS Suffolk undergoes her final assessment and Lewis is forced to make a decision that has dire consequences."

The website for ITV1's Royal Navy drama Making Waves leaves us in suspense as to what happens next. Alas, we may never know if Sam and Anita manage to control themselves. And as for disaster striking, it's already happened with TV chiefs axing the series midway through the run.

Just as the Titanic crew failed to notice the large iceberg drifting in its path, so the producers of Making Waves didn't anticipate that ITV Network Centre would order "Sink the Suffolk". Ironically, the decision came soon after HMS Grafton, used in the filming of the series, was announced as a casualty in the shake-up of the armed forces.

ITV sank Making Waves, starring ex-EastEnders actor Alex Ferns as the new commander of the fictional HMS Suffolk, because of falling ratings. It was pulled from Wednesday's schedules less than 24 hours before the fourth episode was due to be screened after audiences slumped from 5.5 million for the opening episode to 3.7 million by the third.

The person who really torpedoed the series was Supernanny, C4's reality show in which child care expert Jo Foster showed parents how to deal with unruly offspring. That grabbed audiences of nearly six million in the same 9-10pm time slot as Making Waves.

Supernanny and the two million or so watching 1960s gangster drama The Long Firm on BBC2 proved a double whammy that the naval series was unable to repel.

From the start ITV appeared not to have much faith in Making Waves, which came from the producer of Soldier Soldier. It was pulled from the schedules earlier this year and then re-inserted in a summer slot, when audiences are traditionally lower than during the rest of the year.

The decision to replace it with It Shouldn't Happen On A TV Soap paid off. That attracted 5.1 million viewers - 1.4 million more than last week's episode of Making Waves. This compilation of out-takes from soaps also proved more popular than Rail Cops on BBC1 and the Cutting Edge documentary, Sleeping With The Au Pair, on C4.

Making Waves has sunk without trace, not even a sign of being demoted to a late night slot. That happened last year when poor ratings resulted in medical drama Sweet Medicine and the Martin Kemp crime series Family being dumped outside peaktime viewing midway through their runs.

Making Waves isn't the only ITV drama having difficulty attracting viewers. The station is going through a bad patch. The BBC playing Waking The Dead over consecutive nights has battered two ITV1 series into submission.

The detective series starring Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston has been picking up audiences of eight million, double the number switching on to the expensive wartime ITV1 six-parter Island At War on Sunday. It also beat Sarah Lancashire and Philip Davis as Rose And Maloney, seen by around five million on Monday.

This comes after ITV1 notched up eight of the top ten most watched dramas in the first six months of this year. Coronation Street topped the list and, even removing the soaps, ITV has A Touch Of Frost and television's most popular actor David Jason occupying the number one spot. The channel also had success with new series Life Begins, with Caroline Quentin as a newly-separated woman, as well as one-off films and two-part dramas, including Wall Of Silence with James Nesbitt and The Return starring Julie Walters.

Clearly ITV couldn't afford to let Making Waves continue to take in water and lose viewers, and make a dent in its drama audience figures. Controller of drama Nick Elliott may be quoted as saying that ratings aren't everything, but they are very important for a station that depends on advertising.

ITV's drama trouble serves to take attention away from the BBC, which has suffered a particularly poor audience share on Wednesdays. Then the top-rated EastEnders was being beaten twice by a double episode of Emmerdale on ITV1. Less notice was taken when Emmerdale failed to score a hat-trick and was trounced in the ratings by the Albert Square soap.

Not that the BBC doesn't have poor performers. The Newcastle-set cop series 55 Degrees North has settled in well, drawing 5.1 million viewers for the latest episode, but the dream team reunion of Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen is turning into a nightmare. Four million tuned in to the first Johnny And Denise - Passport To Paradise. That has shrunk to 2.8 million last week, when more people watched the repeat of a 17-year-old Miss Marple whodunit on BBC2.

The BBC has a reputation for perseverance and giving series a second chance, so BBC1 Controller Lorraine Heggessey has not ruled out another series for Johnny and Denise. "It's not just about ratings. We are about growing shows at the BBC and we have already done much to improve it over its four-week run," she says.

Saturday is also a problem for ITV1. The big new Saturday night offering Simply The Best is failing to live up to its title with only three million or so viewers for the 90-minute fun and games show from Jersey. How long it can occupy a primetime slot must be in doubt.

Published: 31/07/2004