TV Overnights: Five’s new US drama starts on a high of 3.4 million

Five’s new US drama FlashForward pulled in an impressive high of more than 3.4 million viewers during the all-important peak-hour last night.

Dubbed the new Lost, the first episode of the 22-part series, which stars Joseph Fiennes as FBI agent Mark Benford, pulled in over 3 million average viewers and a 12.7% share between 9pm and 10pm.

Five’s current highest-rating peak-time show is crime drama CSI, which normally attracts an average of just below 3 million viewers, so FlashForward‘s initial ratings will be seen as a success for the channel.

However, BBC One’s Waking the Dead secured the top spot last night with 6.3 million peak viewers and a 26.4% audience share, while ITV1’s police drama Blue Murder came in second with 4.5 million viewers and a 18.7% share.

At the same time, Channel 4’s 9 o’clock film Mr & Mrs Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie picked up just over 1 million viewers and a 5.6% share, while BBC Two’s Design for Life settled for 914,000 average viewers and a 3.8% share.

Earlier on in the evening, ITV1’s Coronation Street stole the soap crown with a high of 9.6 million viewers compared to its rival Eastenders‘ 9.2 million peak viewers.

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.