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 | | Monday, 29 April, 2002, 15:08 GMT 16:08 UK Auf Wiedersehen Pet is ratings hit  All but one of the original cast have reunited Cult comedy Auf Wiedersehen Pet has made a triumphant return to the small screen with nearly 12 million viewers tuning into the first show of the revived series on BBC One. A massive publicity drive appears to have worked as 47% of the television audience tuned in to see what had happened to the fictional building team after a 16-year break. All but the late Gary Holton, who played Wayne, have been reunited in the new series, which sees the men jet off to Arizona. The cast back then were largely unknown actors but the likes of Timothy Spall, Jimmy Nail and Kevin Whately have gone on to become big TV successes.
Auf Wiedersehen Pet beat its ITV1 rival Forsyte Saga which attracted 6.1 million viewers in its 2100 BST time slot on Sunday, according to unofficial figures. The network had been hoping the period drama would create the same excitement as the original 1960s series, when it became essential viewing and was one of the most talked about programmes of its time. The new adaptation attracted nine million viewers its first week, but this has slipped to between 7.7 million viewers and 6.1 million viewers in recent weeks. Auf Wiedersehen Pet started life in the 1980s over on ITV, where it became a firm favourite. It was the BBC which took the decision to commission original writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to resurrect it. Coincidentally, the Forsyte Saga was a BBC success in the 60s but it is now an ITV1 show. Channel 4's political drama The West Wing, pulled in 1.1m viewers in the same time slot, a 5.9% share of the potential audience. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top TV and Radio stories now:  Links to more TV and Radio stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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