ITV has hailed The Blame, the six-part crime drama starring Michelle Keegan, as the UK's biggest new drama across any channel or streaming platform so far in 2026, as ITVX revealed a record-breaking run of streaming figures for September.
Based on 14 days of viewing, The Blame is tracking as the year's biggest new drama launch, according to figures shared by ITV.
The series, released on ITVX on 20 September, was the platform's top title of the month, with the launch episode averaging 6.6 million viewers so far and viewing continuing to rise.
In the drama, Keegan plays DI Emma Crane, who is called upon to investigate after the body of teenage figure skater Sophie Madsen is found in the fictional town of Wakestead.
The case soon exposes lies, cover-ups and misconduct within Crane's own police station, with Douglas Booth, Ian Hart, Joe Armstrong and Josh Bolt playing other key roles in The Blame cast.
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The drama headlined a strong month that saw ITVX pass 3 billion streams for the year on 9 September, reaching the milestone two full months faster than in 2025.
Trigger Point, which saw Vicky McClure return as bomb disposal expert Lana Washington, cemented its status as ITV's biggest returning drama after a strong September. Its first episode has been seen by 6 million viewers so far, making it ITVX's second biggest title of the month.
Reality fans drove further growth, with Big Brother the stand-out unscripted title, with streams up by more than 50 per cent year on year for the current series, while The Only Way is Essex also performed strongly, ending its 38th series in September with its biggest audience in four years.
September also brought a moving conclusion to 70 Up, the landmark longitudinal documentary directed by Oscar-winning film-maker Asif Kapadia.
The two-part finale became ITV's most watched factual programme in more than two and a half years, since Mr Bates vs the Post Office: The Real Story in January 2024, drawing an audience of 4.3 million and rising.
ITVX's most watched acquired title of the month was The Rainmaker, the 10-part crime drama adapted from John Grisham's 1995 novel hailing from US streaming platform Peacock. It attracted more than 6 million programme streams across the month.
The Blame adds another feather to Keegan's cap, following popular turns in Coronation Street, Our Girl, Brassic and Harlan Coben adaptation Fool Me Once.
Coming up, she is re-teaming with the crime novelist for another Netflix series, which brings his 2007 novel The Woods to the small screen (if that title rings a bell, it was previously turned into a Polish-language miniseries in 2020).
The Blame is available to watch on ITVX.
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