Phineas and Ferb Delivers Record Ratings for Disney Channel UK

February 8, 2008 World Screen

LONDON, February 8: Disney
Channel UK announced that its premiere of the animated comedy series Phineas
and Ferb on Friday, February 1,
has become the most successful animation launch for the channel in history,
ranking number one in its time slot among boys aged 6 to 12.

Phineas and Ferb also had a strong showing among the tween set, with
the premiere ranking number one in its time slot on February 1 (from 5:45 p.m.
to 6 p.m.) among kids across the competitive set and number two across all
channels—just behind BBC One’s Neighbours, with an average audience of 244,000 kids and an
11.8-percent share.

Phineas and Ferb currently airs at 8:30 a.m. on weekends and every
weekday at 4 p.m. on Disney Channel UK. The series debuted in numerous
countries worldwide on February 1 and made history with a continued rollout of
more than 10 days with original episodes—a first for television.

Produced in traditional
2-D animation, Phineas and Ferb
is based around two resourceful stepbrothers—Phineas Flynn (Vincent
Martella, Everybody Hates Chris)
and his stepbrother, Ferb Fletcher (Thomas Sangster, Love Actually)—that set out to conquer boredom and make
every day of their 104-day summer holiday count. The brothers dream impossible
dreams and somehow make those dreams come true. However, the boys manage to
clean up the evidence before their parents get home, much to the annoyance of
their older sister, Candace, voiced by High School Musical’s Ashley Tisdale.

Phineas and Ferb is from creators Dan Povenmire (Family Guy) and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (The
Simpsons).

Jonathan Boseley, the VP
of programming at Disney Channel UK, commented: “We are thrilled with these
strong premiere figures. Animation is key part of Disney Channel’s DNA and
we’re delighted that Phineas and Ferb is already proving to be a huge hit with kids in the U.K. We hope
that the imaginative storylines and great range of characters continue to
inspire kids to tune in over the next few months.”

—By Irene Lew