BBC Parliament Reaches New High

BBC Parliament reached an audience of two million viewers (2.08m) for the first time in October. The previous highest audience was in June of this year when 1.8 million tuned in.

The channel audience has doubled since BBC Parliament became available on Freeview in 2006 and it now reaches an average of around 1.5m viewers a month – 477,000 a week.

Channel Controller Peter Knowles said: "It's a major milestone for the channel. Especially at a time when there is talk is about disengagement with politics it's very exciting to see BBC Parliament continuing to grow."

The channel features proceedings from Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. As well as unedited coverage of the Commons and Lords, it also shows the most important committee hearings.

BBC Parliament also makes a range of original programmes. The Record reviews the day's parliamentary work. Record Europe covers the European Parliament. Booktalk brings a weekly round-up of the latest political writing and interviews with leading authors.

The channel launched a new look from on 20 April 2009, with refreshed graphics and channel idents.

BBC Parliament, launched in 1998, also screens themed evenings including the recent Night The Government Fell, which received excellent reviews.