Sunday Night dramas attract 4 Million Viewers as The Blame and The Split Up Launch Battle for Ratings

Sunday Night TV Showdown Draws 4 Million Viewers as The Blame and The Split Up Launch Battle for Ratings

A massive combined audience of four million linear viewers turned to mainstream television drama on Sunday evening as ITV1 and BBC One launched their flagship autumn series in an explosive head-to-head scheduling battle.

Which got more viewers? The Blame or The Split Up?

ITV1 gained the initial upper hand in the overnight ratings, attracting 2.2 million viewers in the contested 9pm timeslot with the premiere of The Blame, its tense new six-part crime thriller. Meanwhile, BBC One’s glossy legal drama The Split Up—a Manchester-set spin-off to Abi Morgan’s smash-hit series The Split—drew a formidable 1.8 million viewers for its opening hour.

Industry insiders emphasize that linear broadcast metrics only capture a fraction of total viewing, with audience figures expected to soar once catch-up and consolidated on-demand streaming numbers are tallied over the coming days.

The Blame (ITV1 & ITVX)

Adapted by Megan Gallagher from Charlotte Langley’s best-selling novel, The Blame places Fool Me Once star Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth at the center of a murky, high-stakes murder investigation.

Keegan plays DI Emma Crane alongside Booth’s DI Tom Radley in the fictional town of Wakestead. When 16-year-old figure skater Sophie Madsen is found dead, what begins as a tragic murder inquiry quickly unspools into a web of institutional cover-ups, dark workplace culture, and internal corruption—leaving Crane to realize that the primary suspect might actually be one of her own colleagues on the police force.

The heavyweight supporting ensemble includes Ian Hart as DCI Kenneth Walker, alongside Nathan Mensah, Nigel Boyle, Joe Armstrong, and Ceallach Spellman.

The Split Up (BBC One & BBC iPlayer)

Over on BBC One, The Split Up extends the universe of Abi Morgan’s acclaimed legal drama The Split, shifting the setting from London high society to the high-stakes world of Manchester family law.

Created and written by Ursula Rani Sarma, the six-part series focuses on the Kishans, a prominent British Asian family running a top-tier divorce law firm. The Umbrella Academy star Ritu Arya leads the cast as Aria Kishan, a fiercely driven lawyer who has spent a decade putting her personal life—and wedding—on hold to take over the firm from her bereaved father, Dhruv, played by Unforgotten icon Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Aria’s carefully managed world is upended by the arrival of an old flame, a explosive high-profile divorce case involving a celebrity podcasting couple, and the sudden exposure of a long-buried affair within her own family ranks. The star-studded cast also includes Aysha Kala, Arian Nik, and Danny Ashok, with high-profile guest appearances from Sir Lenny Henry, Jane Horrocks, and Jameela Jamil.

Where to Watch

Both broadcasters are continuing their aggressive double-bill strategy tonight, with the second episodes of both The Blame and The Split Up airing at 9pm on ITV1 and BBC One respectively.

For audiences eager to binge the storylines ahead of the weekly terrestrial schedule, full-series box sets for both dramas are available to stream right now in their entirety on ITVX and BBC iPlayer.

Share this post with someone you think would like it: