'Big Brother' viewing figures plummet

The latest series of 'Big Brother' is pulling in little over half of the audience for its final run on Channel 4.

Average audiences for the Channel 5 version of the show since it launched on Friday amount to 1.7 million, ratings show.

It compares with an an average of 3.2 million who watched the first five episodes of the programme for its swansong series on C4 in 2010.

The figures are almost 47% down on last year’s series, which began in May rather than August.

The show's comeback on Channel 5 launched just a day after the three-week run of 'Celebrity Big Brother' – which was won by Paddy Doherty – came to a close.