Duck Patrol got many, many sarcastic barbs printed about it including Jonathan Ross's quip I printed yesterday. However the show did well in the ratings - to the chagrin of many critics!
The People - August 2, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol
ITV 10.30 - they were 4th
The People - August 9, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol
ITV 8.72 - they were 7th - beating Men Behaving Badly - which was 8th! Proving not everything starts out as a hit!
The Mirror - August 11, 1998 - Charlie Catchpole:
"Despite all attempts to blow it out of the water (mine included),
Duck Patrol
is bobbing along nicely in the ratings, with a steady audience of around nine
million
viewers."
This was a quote from the creators of the show to critic Charlie Catchpole printed in The Mirror on August 18 1998: "Even if you're not quackers about
Duck Patrol
, around seven
million
viewers are. Apart from the soaps, it's getting the biggest audience of any show this summer transmitted before dusk."
From The Independent - August 31, 1998 - Duck Patrol
(at no. 16 with a bullet)
I'll leave you with this quote from Richard Wilson from The Daily Record - May 15, 1998
"But coming from Clydeside and my father working in the yards - I used to go down there - means that I do like boats.
"So I was attracted by the idea of messing about in them. I've enjoyed that immensely and I can turn a police launch
on a sixpence now."