Graham Norton's Reality Venture The Neighbourhood Faces Ratings Collapse and Schedule Demotion ITV has moved Graham Norton's new reality series The Neighbourhood to a late-night slot and shifted focus to streaming after a sharp drop in viewers and poor critical reviews. The entertainment landscape has witnessed a significant setback for one of the UK's most beloved presenters. Graham Norton, a household name known for his witty interview style and successful BBC talk show, recently ventured into the world of reality television with a project titled The Neighbourhood. Despite a lavish launch characterized by a massive marketing budget and high expectations from ITV executives, the series has suffered a humiliating blow. In a sudden and stark U-turn, the network has demoted the program from its prestigious prime-time slot to what industry insiders call the graveyard slot. Originally scheduled for a 9pm broadcast to attract a wide audience, the show has been pushed back to 10.45pm, airing only after the evening news has concluded.The downfall of The Neighbourhood can be attributed to a combination of plummeting viewership numbers and a wave of negative critical reception. When the show first debuted, it managed to draw approximately 1.2 million viewers, partially aided by its strategic placement during the finale of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.However, this initial interest proved fleeting. By the time the third episode aired, the audience had shrunk dramatically to just 500,000 people. This rapid decline signaled to ITV that the program was failing to capture the public imagination, leading to the decision to move the remaining episodes primarily to the ITVX streaming platform.While the network claims the show continues to air in an evening slot on the main channel, the shift is widely viewed as a move to minimize the risk of further ratings disasters on terrestrial television. In terms of its premise, The Neighbourhood sought to create a high-stakes competition where real-life households battle it out in various games to win a grand prize of 250,000 pounds.The production, handled by Lifted Entertainment and filmed at the Darwin Lake Holiday Park in Matlock, Derbyshire, was explicitly designed to emulate the success of the BBC hit The Traitors. Ed Daggett, a development executive at the production company, had expressed strong hopes that the series would attract reality fans and those who typically avoid the genre.Graham Norton himself had initially been skeptical of the pitch, but he eventually found the concept so compelling that he felt compelled to lead the project. Unfortunately, the execution did not seem to align with the ambition. The critical response was largely scathing, with several major publications delivering harsh assessments. The Guardian provided a two-star review, labeling it a tired reality show and noting that any sense of tension or jeopardy was completely missing.They pointed out that while Norton brings energy to the screen, his presence is limited to the welcome and the voting segments. Similarly, The Telegraph criticized the production for prioritizing aesthetics over engagement, suggesting that the producers spent more time on quirky design touches than on making the content watchable. The Independent was equally unimpressed, stating that even a talent as great as Norton could not save the trippy nature of the series.Metro described the effort as a brazen attempt to replicate the colossal success of The Traitors, though it failed to deliver the same magic. Despite the professional criticism and the ratings crash, the show did find a small pocket of support among some viewers. On social media, a minority of fans praised the casting, suggesting that the families involved were the kind of normal people that viewers actually wanted to see on television.Some even argued that the program was superior to other established hits like Britain’s Got Talent and deserved a Saturday night prime-time slot. However, these isolated positive opinions were not enough to sway the network's decision. With repeats of Long Lost Family and Beat The Chasers filling the 9pm void, it appears that ITV is prioritizing reliable comfort viewing over the risky gamble of a new reality format.The shift toward ITVX suggests that the show may have found its true audience among younger, digital-first viewers, but as a flagship terrestrial hit, The Neighbourhood has largely fallen short of its goals