THE VIEWING figures for the controversial Immigration Street TV show have been revealed.

VIEWING figures show that nearly 1.4 million people tuned in to watch a highly-controversial programme filmed in a Southampton neighbourhood last night.

Figures revealed by viewing data provider overnights.tv revealed that more people tuned into watch the news than to see the one-hour TV show Immigration Street at 10pm.

The programme was a spin-off to last year's Benefits Street and set out to show how immigrants coped with living in the UK and focused on the community living in Derby Road in St Mary's.

Like Benefits Street, documentary maker Love Productions intended to make six episodes at the start of filming but could only create one episode with the footage it had.

In terms of viewers, the one-off show places it in stark contrast to Benefits Street which saw an average 4.64 million people watch the series during the six episodes - Channel 4's most viewed programme of 2014.

Complaints to media regulator Ofcom also show the difference in the reaction to the show too - while Benefits Street racked up 967 complaints throughout the series, Immigration Street got just one.

A spokesman for Ofcom said the solitary complaint was regarding the quality of the show, not the content.

They added: “We are assessing this before deciding whether to investigate or not.”

A spokesman for Channel 4 added it was the highest trending topic on social media website Twitter during transmission.

They regarded the reception to the show a success adding: “We're very pleased that so many people engaged with the show, both by watching it and via social media.”

The Channel 4 spokesman told the Daily Echo that the solo episode saw 8.7 per cent of the available viewing audience at the time.

It puts it behind both BBC (4.3 million) and ITV (1.7 million) 10pm news bulletins during transmission.

For Channel 4's other programmes on the night, more people watched style guru the opening episode of Mary Portas:Secret Shopper and The Romanians Are Coming, about Romanian immigrants settling in Britain.

Immigration Street, the facts

  • Viewing total (at time of transmission): 1.378m
  • Share of audience: 8.7%
  • Complaints to Ofcom: 1;
  • Figures for other shows during transmission: BBC News, BBC 1 (4.3m); Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience, BBC 2 (820,000); News at Ten, ITV1 (1.7m); Channel 5, 10,000 BC (640,000).
  • Figures for other shows on Channel 4 on Tuesday night: Mary Portas: Secret Shopper (1.6m); The Romanians Are Coming (1.4m);
  • Benefits Street viewing figure for opening episode: 4.3m (4.64m average);
  • Complaints to Ofcom: 967.

(Viewing figures provided by data provider overnights.tv and Channel 4 and do not include internet viewing figures or recordings)