Largest TV audience - series

At its peak of popularity, Baywatch (NBC, then syndicated, USA) became the most widely viewed TV series in the world ever, with an estimated weekly audience of more than 1.1 billion in 142 countries in 1996. Covering every continent bar Antarctica, the show has since been seen in 148 countries and translated into 44 languages. The series began in 1989, starring David Hasselhoff and was re-named Baywatch Hawaii, when, due to production costs, the location was moved from Los Angeles. With 11 series under it belt, it is estimated that  audience figures for all the 232 episodes combined would be 5.7 billion - just short of the population of the planet!

The last episode is due to be screened on May 21, 2001.