By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (12.239.86.117) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 11:41 am:

Band of Brothers Boffo in Blighty

Tuesday October 9, 2001


By Steve Clarke

LONDON (Variety) - The British TV premiere of Band of Brothers, the WWII miniseries from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, has proved a spectacular success for the BBC -- making the public broadcaster's decision to bump the pricey, high-profile epic from flagship BBC1's fall schedule seem foolish.

More than 5 million viewers tuned in to the opening double episode on niche network BBC2 Friday night, which won an impressive 24% audience share according to overnight ratings.

The British Broadcasting Corporation coughed up a record $10 million for the series. But execs moved it to BBC2 amid fears that it would not be mainstream enough.

In fact, Band of Brothers, hailed by one U.K. critic as "a major and significant piece of television," beat commercial outlet ITV's ratings-banker ``The Bill,'' one of Blighty's top police series, which drew 4.7 million viewers.

A summer row blew up in the British press after local war vets, annoyed about Hollywood rewriting war history, claimed the storyline gave the impression that America won the war single-handedly.

Now it seems likely that the current global tensions following the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. may have boosted awareness of the U.K.-shot Band of Brothers.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

Please visit a sponsor and help keep this site free!