Forty-something axed

ITV has denied that quality drama is under threat after its new primetime show Forty-something was axed following the station's worst week of ratings.

It suffered the lowest week of viewing figures in its history after the ITV1 audience fell to a record low of only 21.3 per cent in the first week of July.

In comparison, BBC1 scored 28.6 per cent for the same period.

On the past four Saturdays, ITV1 has at times dipped below the crucial 20 per cent audience share.

The figures are a blow to the station, which recently launched a £1 million Saturday night line-up of shows, including Brian Conley's game show Judgement Day. That has now been taken off the schedule and is yet to find a new time slot.

Under pressure to restore ratings, programme director Nigel Pickard axed Sunday night 9pm drama Fortysomething, which stars Hugh Laurie and Anna Chancellor.

The last episode was seen by only 4.3 million viewers - a drop of two million on the previous week - and the rest of the series will be shown at 11pm on Saturday nights.