Scotland`s TV switch to Bond on Sunday evenings flops with viewers

STV (Scotland) chiefs last night admitted they've goofed by replacing top Sunday night dramas with old movies. Chief executive Rob Woodward conceded that last weekend's showing of the James Bond film You Only Live Twice had been a massive turn-off for Scots viewers.

The flick, starring Sean Connery as 007 - famous for his "licence to kill" - was only watched by 324,000.

But more than 9 million saw Martin Clunes in the new Doc Martin series in the rest of the UK - reports The Sun.

And Woodward, who has controversially stopped showing expensive ITV1 dramas north of the border, said: "We need to get better at filling Sunday nights in a more compelling way."

His admission came weeks after The Scottish Sun revealed that only 74,600 viewers tuned in to STV when they dropped the Miss Marple series on a Sunday for 2002 surfing movie Blue Crush.

But Woodward defended his decision to drop ratings winners such as The Bill, Lewis and Benidorm in favour of home-made shows.

He said: "Our documentaries on Susan Boyle, John Hartson, the Made in Scotland and Scotland Revealed series all out-performed the network. But on Sunday nights we have got a lot to learn."

Programmes chief Bobby Hain admitted STV may do a U-turn on showing hit network shows.

He said: "Would we consider The Bill in the future? Yes, we're open-minded."

STV will opt out of 230 hours of network telly this year and could save up to £5million.

Yesterday it announced two new Scottish-made documentaries - on fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and Scots soldiers on the frontline in Afghanistan - will be shown later this year.

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