Top Gear viewing figures fall to new low

Top Gear's audience fell to a new low of fewer than two million viewers as the new series stalled again in the ratings.

Sunday's finale of the rebooted first series, which featured Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey, drew 8.7% share of the available viewing audience.

The BBC declined to comment on the audience figures as the show, presented by Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc, lost out to ITV's coverage of Euro 2016.

Over the last six weeks, Top Gear has struggled to make an impact in the overnights - the figures for the previous day's viewing.

It launched over a Bank Holiday weekend with 4.4 million viewers on May 29, but plummeted to 2.8 million in the second outing.

Top Gear averaged 2.4 million viewers for the third and 2.3 million for its fourth instalment.

Last week's episode, which featured guests Jennifer Saunders and Paul Hollywood, rose for the first time since the new series began.

It drew an average of 2.7 million people, with a peak of three million viewers tuning in at one point.

Overall, the show has failed to reach the viewing figures of the last series with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May at the helm.

The popular former Top Gear trio bowed out with 5.8 million viewers.

The new presenting team joined after the old team left following an incident where Clarkson punched a producer.

Clarkson, Hammond and May will debut their new motoring show The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime in the autumn.