7m Tune In To Midsomer Murders

Last night saw ITV1’s Midsomer Murders defeat the BBC’s 60s cop show George Gently in the all important ratings war, grabbing a peak of seven million viewers.

Both shows started at 8pm, with George Gently on BBC One picking up a peak of 4.6 million viewers – a 19.2% share of the audience.

Midsomer Murders, with a running time of two hours, had an average of 6.7 million viewers (a 28% share), while George Gently, on for an hour and a half, had an average of 4.2 million (a 17.6% share).

Top Gear, on BBC Two also at 8pm, had a peak of 6.6 million viewers (a 26.7% share) in its final 15 minutes and managed to keep an average of 6.1 million glued to their screens for the duration of its hour long running time.

Channel 4 reality show Big Brother, meanwhile, saw an average of 2.9 million viewers tune in from 9pm.

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.

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