‘Poldark’ season 2 ratings improve slightly after ‘Victoria’ finale

Was there a big crossover audience between “Poldark” and “Victoria“? This is a question that we’ve certainly wondered upon many occasions during the past few weeks, and we thought that this was a particularly poor decision on the part of BBC One and ITV. Our belief was that these shows could each be getting more than six million viewers if they were not thrown head-to-head with each other.

With this in mind, we wondered if Sunday would mark an opportunity for the Aidan Turner – Eleanor Tomlinson series to surge forward in the numbers, given that it would not have to face anywhere near the same burden — or at least so we thought. Now that the numbers have officially come in, we’ve learned that the difference is really not anywhere near as substantial as once thought.

The latest episode of “Poldark” (per Telly Mix) drew a total of five million viewers, which is a small increase of around 100,000 people versus the week prior, but still down from the 5.15 million who watched a couple of weeks back. There may be two reasons why the live ratings did not improve further.

1. At this point in the season, many of those viewers who chose watching “Victoria” over this regularly are now behind.

2. New ITV drama “Tutunkhamun” surpassed our own personal expectations in getting 4.5 million viewers; while “Poldark” won the night between the two scripted shows (“Strictly Come Dancing” was #1 in terms of unscripted fare), in the end we may be back to the same situation we were with “Victoria.”

One thing that is good to know, regardless of the rating, is that “Poldark” continues to be a wonderful slice of entertainment. For more on what happened, head over here to read our most-recent episode review right now. We’ll have more news in due time. (Photo: BBC One.)