Big Brother Is Back

The Big Brother Launch Show kicked started the ninth series of the reality TV show with 5.4 million peak adult viewers last night.

In the biggest ever opening night line-up, 16 housemates entered the new and improved house, watched by an average 23.5% audience share.

Davina McCall introduced the new contestants, which includes Big Brother‘s first ever real-life couple, two single mothers, and a blind housemate – Mikey.

Channel 4’s Big Brother Launch Night Project with Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins, following on from the main programme at 10.30pm, attracted more than 3.4 million peak viewers.

ITV1’s Taggart came a close second in the 9pm ratings war, with 4.4 million adult viewers – an average 21.2% audience share.

The last in the current series of The Invisibles on BBC One attracted 2.5 million adult viewers between 9 and 10pm.

EastEnders pulled in more than seven million adult viewers, while four million viewers tuned in to see BBC News at 10pm.

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 Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com