BBC One’s new peak-hour drama steals the show

BBC One’s new Debbie Horsfield drama starring Sarah Lancashire and Neil Pearson pulled in just under 5 million peak viewers last night.

All the Small Things premiered with 4.6 million average viewers and a 20% share during the all-important 9pm to 10pm slot, securing BBC One with the highest peak-hour ratings.

Meanwhile, the last in the series of ITV1’s real-life prison documentary, Holloway, attracted 3.7 million average viewers and a 16.1% share.

Five’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation didn’t come far behind in terms of ratings – pulling in over 3 million peak viewers and a 12.6% share during the 9pm to 10pm slot.

At the same time, the second in the four-part Anna Richardson series, The Sex Education Show v Pornography, picked up 2.2 million viewers and a 9.8% share for Channel 4, while BBC Two’s Horizon – ‘Alan and Marcus Go Forth and Multiply’ – pulled in 2 million viewers and a 9% share.

Earlier on in the evening, the soaps came head-to-head to battle it out for the top spot – BBC One’s Eastenders just managed to pip ITV1’s Emmerdale with 6.9 million peak viewers compared to Emmerdale‘s 6.7 million peak.

However, Emmerdale took the lead in terms of average audience share with 31.3% during the hour-long 7pm to 8pm episode, compared to Eastenders‘ 30.4% share between 7.30pm and 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.