ITV launch new drama push after ‘Playing Nice’ breaks records.

James Norton’s brilliant original drama ‘Playing Nice’ was such a big hit for ITV, it’s prompted a brand new push on drama from the channel.

The thriller, which The Version awarded 4-stars and called “the best drama in a long time” broke records as ITVX’s best drama launch yet, ranking the highest in terms of streaming hours for those who completed the series in one day. It attracted nearly double the audience of other titles in their first day of streaming (including Until I Kill You, and Mr Bates vs The Post Office) and it continues to be ITVX’s biggest drama based on streaming hours, after 8 days.

To date drama has been the biggest genre in terms of viewing on ITVX, accounting for 1.5 billion streams since launch. Red Eye, After The Flood, Trigger Point, The Long Shadow,  Joan, Until I Kill You as well as of course, Mr Bates vs The Post Office were all popular streaming choices in 2024, for all these titles more than 40% of their total audience has come from streams through ITVX. 

Craig Morris, ITV’s Managing Editor for Channels and ITVX said, “We’re incredibly mindful that when we launch our big dramas on ITVX, audiences can - and do - binge them very quickly. New Drama Sundays ensures that there's a new scripted appointment to view every week, released at 7am on a Sunday - the peak viewing day for streamers. As the UK's most watched commercial BVOD, we're delighted to bring this unrivalled selection of new drama to our viewers".

Upcoming titles in New Drama Sundays, available from 7am in full, every Sunday include: Pennyworth (which dropped this Sunday), followed by Out There (starring Martin Clunes) and Stan original Critical Incident.  Soon, fans can see another ‘Happy Valley’ star, Siobhan Finneran, lead the cast of another major drama, ‘Protection’.

Beyond drama, ITVX is home to incredible programming from Masked Singer and The 1% Club, to The Flash and Family Guy. Viewers can also enjoy Big Brother UK, Love Island and big movies like No Time To Die - and don’t forget, it’s all FREE.