The knives were out on social media for ITV’s brand new ‘The Nightly Show’ when it made its debut last night, with viewers branding the late night talk show “dire” and “awful”.

Fronted by David Walliams and boasting a mixture of topical comedy and celebrity interviews based on the traditional American late night chat show format, ‘The Nightly Show’ airs every weekday at 10pm, with ITV pushing the news back until 10:30pm.

However, despite initial viewing figures of nearly three million, representing a success in terms of the ratings, the reaction on Twitter was such that one wonders what lies in the store for the show on its second night on Tuesday.

David WalliamsDavid Walliams presented 'The Nightly Show', which didn't get a good reception

“Sorry it did not work, I like David Walliams he is talented and very charming, but this is wrong for him,” one viewer wrote, while somebody else even demanded that ITV bring back the news, calling ‘The Nightly Show’ “rubbish”.

“#itv put my news back where it belongs and don't insult me with the rubbish that is the #NightlyShow!”

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Now that many have seemed to make up their minds, and considering that many of last night’s viewers will have hung around in curiosity after the highly anticipated return of ‘Broadchurch’ for its third series last night.

Nina Conti and Martin Clunes were the two guests on the debut episode, with topics of conversation including the much-discussed Best Picture mix-up at the weekend’s Oscars ceremony. However, Clunes’ contributions were variously described as “virtually incoherent” and “pathetic drivel”.

With different guests each evening and a policy of rotating the host week by week (John Bishop will be in charge for next week’s episodes), ITV will be hopeful that they can inject enough variety to keep viewers tuned in.

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