TELEVISION / Statistics

At its launch, Lis Howell, who was director of programmes at GMTV, said she wanted the new channel to be 'TV-am with a slice of lemon'. In fact it turned out to be TV-am with far fewer viewers, and she was replaced by Greg Dyke, who helped revive ratings for TV-am in its early days. GMTV's figures have continued to slide, however, and the latest research shows that The Big Breakfast, with an audience of 1.6 million - its best ever - is on the brink of becoming the most popular early-morning TV show. While BBC 1's Breakfast News records a fairly steady 1.4 million, GMTV has 1.7 million, down from a launch figure of 2 million, which it has not equalled since.