With a glossy launch and an enormous marketing budget, it looked set to be Graham Norton’s starring primetime role.
But in embarrassing U-turn, ITV has now relegated his brand new reality show The Neighbourhood to the ‘graveyard’ slot mid-series, amid poor reviews and plummeting ratings.
The new programme, which was announced to great fanfare, was set to launch Norton on the channel and rival the BBC’s popular The Traitors.
It has, however, failed to get the curtains twitching, and ITV has made the brutal decision to put the rest of the episodes straight onto its streaming platform ITVX and shift its slot on ITV1 from 9pm to 10.45pm, after the evening news.
The launch attracted 1.2million viewers. However, by the third episode, just 500,000 tuned in.
The series, which is Norton’s first reality project, sees real life households compete in a series of games which ultimately culminates in the most popular family winning £250,000.
In embarrassing U-turn, ITV has now relegated Graham’s brand new reality show The Neighbourhood to the ‘graveyard’ slot mid-series, amid poor reviews and plummeting ratings
The Neighbourhood debuted in the middle of the I’m A Celebrity finale last month in a bid to attract the attention of the jungle show’s loyal viewers.
An ITV spokesperson said: ‘The full box set of The Neighbourhood is now available to stream on ITVX. Additionally, the show will continue to air in an evening slot on ITV.’
Repeats of Long Lost Family and Beat The Chasers will air in place of the series at 9pm on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Insiders say the series is performing better on ITV’s streaming platform ITVX rather than terrestrial television.
The low ratings will come as a blow to Irish star Norton, who has enjoyed the success of his long-running ratings winner The Graham Norton Show on the BBC.
Speaking before its launch, Norton said he initially agreed to meet with producers and hear their pitch, with a view to eventually declining the hosting job.
However, he admitted he thought it was ‘so good I have to say yes’.
Viewers had voiced their scathing opinions of the show on social media, branding it ‘drivel TV’ and ‘the biggest load of rubbish’, echoing critics’ reviews.
The Neighbourhood, which was filmed in Darwin Lake Holiday Park in Matlock, Derbyshire, was given a big budget promotional campaign ahead of its launch.
Ed Daggett, Development Executive at Lifted Entertainment, the company who make the show, expressed his hopes to take on The Traitors with the competition series.
He said: ‘The Traitors has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of the way it’s attracted reality fans and people who may not normally come to reality shows.
‘Of course, we would want to come close to that sort of success.’
In a three-star review, Metro described the show as ‘the latest – and arguably boldest – brazen attempt to replicate the colossal success of The Traitors.’
Other fans had a more positive reaction, with one posting: ‘Am I the only person who’s loving #TheNeighbourhood.
‘I actually really like all the families. This is the type of normal people we want cast on Big Brother.’
A second agreed: ‘#Theneighbourhood is gooood, better than Britain’s got talent, i would put The neighbourhood on prime time saturday.’
The Neighbourhood debuted in the middle of the I’m A Celebrity finale last month in a bid to attract the attention of the jungle show’s loyal viewers
The Guardian’s two-star review read: ‘Any sense of jeopardy is conspicuous by its absence.
‘Norton lifts the energy when he’s there but is only present for the welcome and removals-voting.’
The publication also branded The Neighbourhood as a ‘tired reality show’.
The Telegraph stated in their two-star assessment: ‘The show is full of quirky little design touches like this, and it seems as if the producers have put more thought into how it looks than how engaging it is to watch.
The Independent claimed in their three-star review that even host Graham ‘can’t save this trippy reality show’.
