Top Gear has hit another speedbump after the latest episode attracted just 2.8 million views – and was beaten by the Antiques Roadshow.

Around 4.4 million viewers down on the opening episode aired last week, the motoring show went up against Soccer Aid in the viewer stakes and appeared to struggle at times.

In 2015, with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May at the helm, the famous motoring show drew in 5.34 million viewers in its second episode.

One source for the BBC told The Radio Times: “Yes, the hot weather didn’t help but this is still a big ouch for Top Gear, but it will probably up by around 1 million we reckon.”

Chris Evans, who has been under fire ever since the first episode went live, tweeted: “The way Top Gear is being viewed is repositioning the way television is consumed. Last week 9 million viewers. This week we shall see.”

Prior to the re-designed show’s debut, Evans told The Guardian: “If we had to guess about the number of viewers we are going to get on Sunday night, you have to say you would be disappointed if it was under five million.

“Five million-plus would be great, after that it doesn’t matter.”

However, that first show missed Evans’ predictions, coming in with well under five million viewers.

The BBC’s own system of registering viewer appreciation is reported to have seen Top Gear rated as the worst programme in its first weekend on television.

With 5,000 responses gathered, Top Gear was given a score of 60 out of 100 – with the average score for BBC shows around 82.