9.4m see return of Jonathan Creek

The first evening of 2009 saw the BBC come out on top in the ratings war, with a new episode of spooky detective show Jonathan Creek picking up a peak of 9.4 million viewers for BBC One.

On from 9pm to 11pm, the comedy-drama had an average audience of nine million people, or a 35.9% share of television viewers.

Its main rival was ITV1’s own scene stealing sleuth, Miss Marple, which could only grab a comparatively poor peak of four million viewers.

In the same timeslot as Jonathan Creek, Marple had an average of 3.7 million viewers (a 15.1% share).

Last night also saw the return of iconic game show The Krypton Factor to ITV1, although laconic host Gordon Burns has now been replaced by GMTV’s Ben Shepherd.

The revamped show had a peak of 4.5 million viewers, while an average of 4.3 million (a 16.55% share) tuned in for its half hour running time from 7.30pm to 8pm.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com