CBC’s explosive new miniseries Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion attracted an average of 1.5 million viewers over its two-night run. The first installment on Oct. 26 drew 1.4 million viewers and the second, on Oct. 27, drew 1.6 million.

Shattered City is a dramatic account of the events surrounding the 1917 explosion in Halifax that killed 2,000 people, injured 9,000 more and flattened two square kilometers of the northern part of the city. The miniseries has spawned educational materials, the CBC feature documentary City of Ruins and a website (www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion). The doc, which uses footage taken in the days after the explosion and conversations with survivors, aired on Oct. 28 and attracted one million viewers.

The mini is a Salter Street Films/Alliance Atlantis Communications/Tapestry Pictures coproduction. Blockbuster Canada will be the exclusive rental and sales outlet for the video and DVD until after Christmas.

Last month’s Gemini Awards wasn’t as popular. The show only attracted 285,000 viewers, down 11,000 from last year. Ruth-Ellen Soles, head of media relations at CBC, blames the increasing number of specialty channels and the season premiere that night of The Next Joe Millionaire: An International Affair for the drop in ratings.