Frasier finale aired

Last night viewers across America tuned in to see the final episode of "Frasier".

12:01 14 May 2004

Last night viewers across America tuned in to see the final episode of "Frasier".

The episode drew to a close Frasier's ongoing battle of wills with Eddie the dog and his search for a woman.

Over its 11 years on air the programme has seen unprecedented success. It has won a record 31 Emmy awards and seen Frasier Crane become the longest running character in the history of US television.

"I'm proud of it," said actor Kelsey Grammer who played Frasier.

"There is an audience for these guys. We proved that. Most of America, frankly, is much smarter than television assumes they are," Grammer added.

The series ended with an hour long episode, along with another hour long retrospective.

"I'm very proud of that last episode," said co-writer Peter Casey.

The show took the bold step of centring itself on a pair of intellectuals while doing its best not to talk down to the audience.

Executive producer David Lee explained: "If there was a joke we felt was genuinely funny that we thought people might not understand, we just went, 'Well, then they don't get it'."

A spokesman from Channel 4 said that British viewers will see the finale at the end of June.