The BBC's brave attempt to put the NHS in the spotlight proved a turn-off for viewers, it emerged today.

Your NHS, a series of prime-time shows checking the pulse of the national health service, gave BBC1 one of its worst ratings performances of the year so far.

The most it could muster was 4.4m viewers - and that was at 7.30pm, the start of the night's viewing for most households.

The first Your NHS programme at 7.30pm had a 21% audience share while the flagship show, presented by Nicky Campbell between 9pm and 10pm, fared even worse.

The discussion programme, in which Tony Blair answered questions from NHS professionals, attracted just 3.3m viewers and a 15% audience share, according to unofficial overnights.

By 10.35pm interest had dwindled further with 2.2m, a sickly 14% share, tuning in to discover the results of a phone poll about possible solutions to the crisis in the NHS.

One reason for BBC's poor performance was the return of the Champions League to ITV1 after a three-month break.

The football came back with a bang at 7.30pm, despite Liverpool's draw with Galatasaray eliciting barely a whimper in sporting terms.

Some 7.5m viewers - a 34% share - watched the match. The audience peaked at 8.2m during the last half-hour.

BBC2 and Channel 4 reaped the benefit of BBC1's lacklustre line-up.

Liam, a hard-hitting Stephen Frears and Jimmy McGovern film about an English family's struggles during the 30s depression, attracted 3.1m viewers and a 15% share between 9pm and 10.30pm.

Channel 4's property programme Location, Location, Location continued to be a ratings puller, attracting an impressive 3.5m viewers between 8.30pm and 9pm.

With a 16% audience share, it snared more viewers than both the Your NHS update at 8.30pm and the National Lottery Jetset at 8.45pm on BBC1.