The Official David Dickinson Website
Bargain Hunt - Prime Time Press

Prime Time Bargain Hunt was eagerly anticipated by fans of the daytime show. Visitors to this site knew of the evening scheduling way back in March of 2002, when David himself brought us the news hot off the press, but no-one, not even 'The Duke' himself could have predicted it's instant and soar away success with the evening audiences. The first show tripled the daytime viewing figures with an amazing 6.7 million viewers, but the success story hasn't stopped there and only four shows into the series the figures have now reached 7.5 million. Huge Congratulations are due to David Dickinson and the whole of the Bargain Hunt team. And a pat on the back to all you daytime viewers who were first to pick such a great winner.
Here's what the Guardian had to say about it,

Jason Deans
The Guardian, Friday September 13, 2002

Perma-tanned host David Dickinson is the new star of BBC1 entertainment, with his antiques game show pulling in as many viewers as Emmerdale.
After just four weeks in a new prime time slot, his Bargain Hunt is even attracting more viewers than Carol Smillie's Changing Rooms.
Last night Dickinson, who used to be one of the hidden treasures of BBC daytime, got an audience of 7.5m - matching that of ITV's farmyard soap Emmerdale on the previous night.
And his audience was just enough to comfortably beat the BBC makeover show, Changing Rooms, which drew 7.3m viewers.
In the show Dickinson, who has been described as a "real life Lovejoy", gives two teams £500 cash to scour antique fairs for bargains, with the team making the most after expert valuation wins the show.It was already a hit in the BBC's morning schedules and knocked the stuffing out of ITV's This Morning with a cult following among students and housewives alike.
Dickinson shot to fame after an appearance on a Modern Times documentary five years ago. He has also appeared on Holiday and the Antiques Show.
Bargain Hunt combines the appeal of antiques with a competitive element and Dickinson's unique presenting style - described as a cross between Ian MacShane, Terry Thomas and Dale Winton.His catchphrases, such as "bobbydazzler" and "cheap as chips", have become common parlance in student unions up and down the country.
The show's previous best was 6.5 million on its peak time debut on August 22.

Bargain Hunt also won its peak time slot for the first time, beating ITV1's The Bill, which had 5.8 million viewers and a 28% audience share between 8pm and 9pm.

Prime Time Bargain Hunt for fans of the day time version has been eagerly anticipated but for many TV viewers it was to be their first encounter with Mr David Dickinson and his trusty team of experts. Here's what the press had to say about the evening series before it started.

The Future's Orange
Does BBC 1's cheery Bargain Hunter David Dickinson, set to be a prime time love god ...... share a sunbed with EastEnders Kat Slater? -
The Buzz in Radio Times 17-23.08.02