Even Graham Norton couldn’t stop ITV’s latest reality gamble from falling flat, if early ratings and brutal viewer reactions are anything to go by.
The Neighbourhood launched on ITV1 last night with a primetime slot and a hefty £250,000 prize dangling in front of its contestants, but it failed to make much of an impression.
The show pulled in just 1.2 million viewers at 9pm, a figure dwarfed by the programmes surrounding it, with I’m A Celebrity drawing nearly double the audience on either side.
It also slipped behind every episode of Celebrity Big Brother that aired in the same slot last year, suggesting viewers weren’t exactly desperate for another reality format.
And if the numbers were underwhelming, the immediate audience reaction was even harsher. One viewer summed up the mood bluntly: ‘Oh my goodness it was dreadful. I have a huge capacity for “drivel” TV but I couldn’t stay with this after 15 minutes. Awful TV.’
The premise follows six families as they move into a suburban cul-de-sac and must outlast each other through challenges, alliances, and strategic voting, all in pursuit of the cash prize.
There are immunity challenges, social manoeuvring, and the usual insistence from contestants that they are both ‘nice people’ and ruthless competitors ready to ‘smash it’.
But critics have suggested the format barely rises above its most basic ingredients.
Challenges — from guessing facts while strapped to a washing line to hunting for garden gnomes — have been described as lacking stakes or originality, with little sense of jeopardy driving the action.
Even the emotional backstories, a staple of modern reality TV, struggle to anchor the show.
Norton himself has been widely acknowledged as the show’s strongest asset, injecting energy when he appears.
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The problem, however, is that he’s largely absent from the day-to-day action, popping in mainly to introduce proceedings and oversee eliminations. Without him, the series is left to rely on contestants who critics say lack the charisma to carry it.
There are also early signs of controversy bubbling beneath the surface, including an awkward moment around a contestant’s early eviction that hinted at uncomfortable dynamics the show doesn’t fully address.
All of this lands at a time when reality TV is already oversaturated, with networks racing to replicate the success of breakout hits like The Traitors. The result, in this case, feels like an unnecessary addition to an increasingly crowded field.
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