Channel 4 is hastily preparing the new series of Peep Show and series two of The IT Crowd for debuts early in the new year.

The sitcoms, along with other entertainment programmes like "Balls of Steel" and American comedy "Ugly Betty" (the latter of which was a big hit in the States) are being parachuted into Channel 4's spring schedule to try and help the broadcaster recover from its falling audience figures.

Last week Channel 4 posted what is believed to be its worst Friday night performance since Christmas 1998. The much hyped new gameshow Unanimous was mainly to blame - it caused C4 to slump to just 800,000 viewers and a 4% share of viewers at 9pm. Channel 4 are expected to replacing the reality series with new episodes of The Simpsons next week.