England Team Draws More Than 7.6 Million To BBC One
England’s friendly against Brazil at the new Wembley stadium, which saw the return of David Beckham to the squad, was one of the most watched programmes over the weekend, attracting an average adult audience of more than 7.6 million over the coverage’s duration.
The match, which ended in a 1-1 draw after a last minute goal from the visiting side, gave BBC One a 40% viewing share on Friday night between 7.30pm and 10pm.
Meanwhile over on Channel 4, just over 2.6 million (13%) on average tuned in to catch up on the latest goings on in the Big Brother house between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.
Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis attracted more than 2.9 million to ITV1, a 14.6% viewing share, whilst Big Brother‘s second instalment, which saw former boy band hunk Ziggy thrown amongst the screeching girlies, lured not far off 3.5 million (21%).
Saturday night saw BBC One outshining ITV1, with the second part of a dramatic story line on Doctor Who, which saw Martha struggling to restore the Time Lord to his real alien self, was seen by more than five million adults on average (34%).
Following on from an emotional performance by the dishy David Tennant, the race to find Andrew Lloyd Webber’s next Joseph edged ever closer to the finishing line on Any Dream Will Do.
Keith, Lee, Ben and Lewis sang their hearts out to impress the musical theatre impresario, with an average of 5.5 million adults (32%) glued to their seats for the singing contest, whilst around six million saw the doors finally close for the arrogant Ben later in the evening.
More than 3.3 million on average (19.5%) preferred to join Grease Is The Word over on ITV1, whilst 4.2 million (22%) stuck with the channel to see Trevor McDonald pay tribute to the high-waisted X-Factor villain Simon Cowell in This Is Your Life.
On Sunday night it was ITV1’s turn to win the ratings battle, with Heartbeat and Midsomer Murders attracting an average adult audience of almost 6.5 million (30%) and more than 6.7 million (32.8%) respectively, after more than 7.7 million had tuned in for Coronation Street earlier in the evening.
Big Brother gained more than 3.1 million on average, a 14% share, whilst David Dimbleby’s fascinating architectural tour in How We Built Britain was seen by more than 4.1 million (18%).
Meanwhile, over on Sky One, the last two hours of the sixth series of the gripping 24 were watched by 257,000 and 259,000 respectively.
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, ITV2 and Sky One.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com