TV Overnights: New Spooks beats ITV1’s Champions League Live

BBC One’s popular Spooks returned with a high of 6.1 million viewers during the all-important peak hour last night.

The spy series, which stars Peter Firth, Richard Armitage and Hermione Norris, attracted more than 6 million average viewers and a 24.7% audience share between 9pm and 10pm.

The first episode of the new eight-part series secured the highest ratings during most of the hour-long slot, with the exception of a fifteen minute period between9.15pm and 9.30pm where ITV1’s football coverage pulled in a slightly higher 5.9 million viewers.

The UEFA Champions League Live game between Lyon and Liverpool – which ended with a 1-1 draw – picked up 5 million average viewers and a 21.2% share between 7.30pm and 10pm and managed to secure the top spot for a 30 minute block at 8pm with a high of 5.9 million viewers, as well as its peak at 9.15pm.

Elsewhere, Andrew Marr’s the Making of Modern Britain continued with 2.3 million average viewers and a 9.8% share for BBC Two, just pipping Channel 4’s new The Family series to third place during the 9pm to 10pm peak-hour.

The fly-on-the-wall documentary series, which debuted on Channel 4 last year, focuses on the Grewal family this time around.  The first of eight episodes, which follows the life of the family over a two month period, pulled in 2.2 million average viewers and a 9.3% share.

Meanwhile, Channel Five’s 9 o’clock film Maid in Manhattan, the romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez, attracted 1.2 million peak viewers and a 5.1% average audience share between 9pm and 11.10pm.

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 and key multi-channel stations.