Michael Sheen’s drama The Way has become the BBC’s biggest flop after getting the lowest audience figures ever recorded for a prime-time drama finale, according to reports.
The drama is about a brutal government crackdown in Wales with people becoming refugees and being hounded by English fascists.
It is directed by Sheen, a Welsh nationalist, and follows the Driscoll family as they try to escape the UK.
But only 697,000 viewers watched the final episode and it was trounced in the ratings by the launch of Celebrity Big Brother on ITV, which had an audience of 2.3 million, The Telegraph reported.
Michael Sheen directed the BBC drama about a brutal government crackdown on the Welsh
The drama came out just weeks after Tata Steel said almost 2,000 jobs were at risk
Also, The Way launched with only 1.7million viewers which is below the average for a prime time slot.
But the corporation claimed that audience behaviour had changed and many people would have watched the series on iPlayer rather than at 9pm.
A spokesman for the broadcaster said: ‘The Way has been available to view in full on BBC iPlayer for more than a fortnight.
‘Overnight ratings no longer provide a full picture of all of those who have watched in an on-demand world.’
Other dramas available as on-demand box sets have outperformed The Way such as ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which had a launch audience of 3.9million in January and added millions more via catch-up.
The Daily Mail’s TV critic, Christopher Stevens, was also unimpressed with The Way, giving it zero stars out of five.
He wrote: ‘Actor and director Michael Sheen’s spittle-flecked revolutionary rant The Way (BBC1) began with incoherent fury and became ever more deranged.
‘These three hours spent denouncing England’s oppression of the Welsh eventually blundered to a close in a mess of disconnected scenes.
‘Sheen’s clout as a respected actor is the only reason this drivel was filmed.’
The Way, which depicts a crackdown on protests over job cuts at the Port Talbot steelworks, comes just weeks after Tata Steel said almost 2,000 jobs were at risk, leading to demonstrations in the town.
Sheen, 55, who lives close to Port Talbot, admitted that the show could be seen as political and that he had feared it would be pulled by BBC bosses.
A scene from BBC’s The Way, directed by Michael Sheen. The drama has caused controversy
The actor said he had ‘huge sympathy’ for the steelworkers but insisted it was a coincidence that the show he devised in 2016 was released after the job cuts were announced.
‘We wanted to get this out quickly,’ he told The Times. ‘The concern was that if it was too close to an election, the BBC would get nervous.’
But the show attracted criticism with one senior Tory MP saying: ‘This is typical politicisation of the BBC’s drama output.
‘Riots and disorder and it’s all the fault of the Conservative Party. Sheen should just run for office.’
Lee Anderson, Conservative MP for Ashfield, said: ‘This comes as no surprise as the BBC is the official opposition these days.’
