Big Brother Beaten By BBC1

Big Brother failed to perform last night, but surprisingly it was not the celebrities on ITV1’s The X Factor: The Battle of the Stars who beat them.

The big winner was in fact BBC1, as its show about ageing policemen, New Tricks, managed to pull in 7.6 million adult viewers, a 33.6% audience share.

Big Brother, perhaps feeling the effects of a blistering opening week (see NewsLine), had only 3.9 million adult viewers, despite introducing two new housemates in the shape of pop-star wannabe Aisleyne and cross-dressing Sam.

The X Factor: The Battle of the Stars managed 5 million adult viewers, although ITV1 would probably have hoped for a better performance from its heady mix of reality and celebrity, especially against the solid but un-flamboyant goings on of Dennis Waterman and chums on BBC1.

Big Brother and The X Factor go head-to-head again this evening at nine and it will be interesting to see whether viewers are more interested in the two new housemates or would rather see how Chris Moyles and friends cope with the loss of Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee, who were voted off the ITV1 show in a public vote.

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com