3.35 million fans are still out there as The X-Files returns on Channel 5
The series smashed the 9pm Monday night slot average for Channel 5
Do you want to believe? Well, it seems over three million UK viewers do because they tuned in en masse as The X-Files returned to TV screens last night.
The debut episode of the new series became the highest rated show on Channel 5 since January 2015’s Celebrity Big Brother launch, with 3.35 million people watching Mulder and Scully on Channel 5, Channel 5 HD and Channel 5 +1.
It was the highest drama launch for the broadcaster since 2009’s FlashForward, and inspired more than 20,000 tweets as it aired. At its peak, the show pulled in 3.8 million viewers, while it’s overall reach (the number of people who saw it for any period of time) was a whopping 4.3 million.
The sci-fi series smashed Channel 5's viewing average for the Monday night 9pm slot too, with figures up 168%.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's efforts bested Channel 4’s Royal Navy School (1.75 million) and Rick Stein’s BBC2 Taste of Shanghai (1.76 million), with The X-Files only beaten by ITV’s Benidorm (which racked up 3.42 million on ITV and another 810,000 on HD) and BBC1's Crimewatch which held its own with 3.7 million viewers.
