ITV's flagship winter biopic tracking Cary Grant's rise from a poverty-stricken childhood to Hollywood stardom has deafening music but barely audible dialogue, viewers fume

It is ITVX's flagship winter show – a big-budget, critically acclaimed biopic tracking Cary Grant's rise from a poverty-stricken childhood to Hollywood stardom.

But Archie, starring Jason Isaacs as the super-suave movie icon, is proving a big turn-off for viewers – thanks to its 'appalling' sound.

Frustrated viewers on the streaming channel say they are forced to keep turning the volume up to hear the dialogue before dashing for the remote to hush it down for the 'deafening' music and sound effects (SFX).

'Why is the sound all over the place on ITVX's Archie – constantly having to turn it up/turn it down. Jason Isaacs is fab – so it's a shame,' comedian Jenny Eclair posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Another frustrated viewer of the drama, which launched on November 23, wrote: 'The sound in Archie is awful.

'Speaking parts very hard to hear for the viewer, my TV volume was heading to its max! Any music, however, then deafened everyone within a ten-mile radius.'

Jem Roberts, an author, joined the chorus of disapproval, complaining: 'The dialogue is inaudible below a volume of 60, yet music and SFX are deafeningly loud about 40.'

One viewer asked the ITVX Help account on X if the problem could be 'mended' as she had managed to get through only 15 minutes of the first episode before giving up. 

It responded: 'Can you provide more information on the sound issues you're having whilst watching Archie? Can you also let us know the device you're using to access ITVX?'

But viewers were still struggling to watch a few days later, with one writing on November 28: 'Whoever is the sound editor for Archie, they need sacking!'

The BBC recently had a similar accusation levelled at its new restaurant-based drama Boiling Point, with viewers complaining they couldn't hear the dialogue over the background noise.

Simon Clark, head of production sound recording at the National Film and TV School and director of the Institute of Professional Sound, said viewers watching Archie without surround-sound systems could struggle to understand what was being said. He cites the 'cocktail party effect', which is when the brain filters out other sounds in a loud room and zones in on a particular conversation.

Older viewers struggling to hear the dialogue could take a tip from the younger generation. A YouGov study found that 61 per cent of viewers aged 18 to 25 switch on the subtitles when watching TV.

Despite the apparent poor sound, viewers of Archie, which also stars Laura Aikman as Grant's wife Dyan Cannon, were quick to praise Isaacs' portrayal of the actor – born Archibald Leach in Bristol in 1904. Co-produced by Grant's only child, Jennifer Grant, 57, and her mother, Cannon, 86, the drama tells the story of the tortured man behind the suave persona.

The Mail on Sunday has contacted ITVX for comment.