6.4 million tune into premiere of Car Share series 2

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Peter Kay Car Share screening unveiled in first public statement since tour axed
(Image credit: BBC/Goodnight Vienna Productions)

There wasn't a lot of sharing going on last night as the return of BBC1's Car Share sped off with the TV audience

Peter Kay's eagerly anticipated new series of hit comedy Car Share was welcomed back on Tuesday night with a record 6.4 million viewers. comfortably beating the 5.7 million who watch the first episode in April 2015.

Last night's episode, which saw John resume his car sharing and coquettish will they/won't they romance with Kayleigh (Sian Gibson), drew a massive 31.5 per cent of the entire TV audience.

Car Share's rating was also well ahead of BBC1's average audience for the 9pm slot of 4.2 million (20.7 per cent), according to Broadcast magazine.

All the new Car Share episodes are currently available on iPlayer, which is expected to massively increase its audience as viewers stream the show at their own leisure.

> Read what Sian Gibson had to say about the new series.

Patrick McLennan
Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.