Afternoon all!
The audience figure for episode 4 was 3.1 million, down from 3.39 for ep 3, not as bad as we thought it would be considering the postponement.
Still not quite there yet. Give us an official announcement BBC!
If that link doesn't work, this is what it says:
The Musketeers poised to return
2 February, 2015 | By Jake Kanter
BBC1 is ready to press ahead with a third series of The Musketeers despite the drama’s below-par ratings.
The in-house drama is preparing to go into production in the Czech Republic this April, according to director Andy Hay, who said an official announcement is due “shortly”.
He told his Twitter followers: “Looks like I inadvertently let the genie out of the bottle! Great to know Musketeers has such loyal support.”
It follows hints from creator Adrian Hodges last year that plans were in place for a third run. “The future remains to be seen and we’re very focused on this [second] series at the moment, but there’s a lot of places these stories can go,” he said.
The Musketeers is currently four episodes in to its second 10-part series. It dipped to its lowest overnight ratings of 3.1m (13.8%) viewers on Friday, while the first three episodes consolidated to an average audience of 4.7m (17.3%).
Last year’s first series averaged a consolidated audience of 6.3m (22.8%) over the course of its 10-part run, according to Barb figures supplied by overnights.tv.
The decision to recommission is made more straightforward for BBC1 by The Musketeers’ funding model. The first two series were backed by BBC Worldwide and BBC America, who are also set to contribute to the third run.
A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: “The Musketeers has delighted audiences at home and around the world and we’re thrilled that we’ve been able to financially support bringing a third series to the BBC, with improved value for the licence fee payer.”