Viewers voted with their remotes on election night, sending the BBC’s viewing numbers plummeting by 2 million compared to the last general election. The air of smug satisfaction may have prompted a few to switch off…

From 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., the BBC mustered 4.1 million viewers, a sharp drop from the 6.1 million of 2019. Even Clive Myrie’s hard-hitting questions to Angela Rayner on why she won’t “count the chickens” or at least “what kind of chickens would [she] like to see” failed to maintain interest. The BBC’s woes aren’t helped by the licence fee’s unpopularity – a 2023 poll by Techne UK revealed that 53% think people shouldn’t have to pay the fee. Not even a warm embrace from Labour seems capable of hoisting the BBC out of its ratings slump…