Prince Harry’s ITV interview achieves ‘disappointing’ ratings

The special was beaten by the second episode of ‘Happy Valley’ season three

The viewing figures for ITV’s Prince Harry interview have been released.

The duke’s tell-all interview with Tom Bradby, which aired last night (8 January) on ITV, was watched in the UK by 4.1 million people – around a third of the 11.1 million people who watched his and wife Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview in 2021.

The ratings performance was described as “disappointing” by US entertainment publication Deadline.

Read The Independent’s review of the special here.

Harry was beaten in the ratings by BBC One drama Happy Valley, which returned this month after a seven-year hiatus.

The show, starring Sarah Lancashire, drew in an audience of 5.2 million.

The duke’s interview to promote his memoir Spare, meanwhile, peaked with 4.5 million and was watched by an average of around 4.1 million, according to Barb data supplied by overnights.tv.

In the interview, Harry narrated controversial and startling excerpts from the book that, according to one royal biographer, “could mark the beginning of the end” of the monarchy.

Read all the biggest talking points from the interview here.

The Duke of Sussex during an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby in California (ITV/PA) (PA Media)

The relatively low ratings of the latest interview come as a surprise, after the December Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan became the streamer’s most watched show in the UK of last year.

Harry will make two more appearances on TV in the US today (9 December), on The Late Show and Good Morning America.

His memoir Spare is published on 10 January.