Heart-throb star Robson Green is battling to win back TV audiences after viewing figures showed he is becoming a telly turn-off.

Figures for his latest run of ITV dramas show that he is now attracting less than half the audience he was six years ago, when up to 18 million people tuned in to his shows.

ITV chiefs were so pleased with the glittering success of the Geordie actor that they signed him to the network until 2002 with a £3.75m "golden handcuffs" deal.

This week saw the launch of Robson's new drama, Close and True, in which he plays lawyer John Close alongside James Bolam and Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell.

But, despite hopes that it would be a smash-hit, only eight million viewers tuned in.

Scheduling chiefs at ITV said that the drama had beaten its nearest rival, BBC's Holby City, and had pulled in 36 per cent of the total audience at 9pm.

A spokeswoman said: "We are delighted with its performance.

"It was a very strong start, beating all the competition and reducing Holby City's audience to 5.2 million - its lowest audience ever.

"We are confident the series will go from strength to strength."