Gameswipe grabs 361,000 viewers

Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe TV special last night drew a respectable 361,000 viewers.

According to a Media Guardian report, the show – which aired on the satellite and digital-only channel BBC Four – accounted for 2.2 per cent of the UK’s TV audience between 10pm to 11pm.

The preceeding hour of TV, Electric Dreams – which sees a family rely solely on technology from previous decades – drew in 492,000 viewers, 2.3 per cent of the multichannel audience.

Don’t be too sniffy about the Gameswipe number – as a more fringe-oriented channel, BBC Four usually draws around 8m on average during a whole week, so scoring a large chunk of that number for a one off special is no mean feat.

Although a one-shot special looking at the history and controversies surrounding games, the encouraging figures could spur the BBC to make more episodes.

Earlier today, host Brooker – known best for his work for The Guardian newspaper, mini-series drama Dead Set and his other BBC Four shows Screenwipe and Newswipe – said that the show had garnered more viewers than his other non-fiction shows. He also said Screenwipe and Newswipe could start featuring games content.

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