Television broadcast of The Vote attracted half a million viewers

The live broadcast of James Graham's play The Vote from the Donmar Warehouse on election night attracted an audience of more than half a million people.

The production, which featured an ensemble cast including Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate, Timothy West and Judi Dench, was set in realtime in a fictional polling station in the run-up to polls closing.

More4's broadcast peaked at 555,000 viewers, making it the most widely viewed Donmar production in the venue's history. Its NT Live screening of Coriolanus last year was seen by 180,000.

Donmar Warehouse artistic director Josie Rourke, who directed the production, said: "This is a huge audience for a live broadcast of a play. That we reached so many people has broken every expectation we held about The Vote, and is proof of a big appetite for new plays live on television."

Channel 4 commissioning editor John Hay added: "When we do something experimental and the public comes to it in these numbers it feels like a double win. I'm absolutely delighted by this response, proud that we helped so many people see Josie and James's wonderful play, and grateful to Twofour for translating it so beautifully to the screen."