TV Overnights: Mock the Week gets the biggest laugh

BBC Two’s Mock the Week stole the show during the first part of the peak-hour last night with a high of more than 3.4 million viewers.

The 30-minute comedy quiz show secured a 14.9% average audience share between 9pm and 9.30pm, which was enough to take the lead over BBC One’s Paradox and ITV1’s The Bill.

However, The Bill did manage to claim the top spot between 9.30pm and 9.45pm with 2.9 million peak viewers, before Paradox stepped in to win the highest ratings in the final fifteen minutes of the all-important peak hour with more than 3 million viewers.

At the same time, Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas F Word – the eighth episode in the 12 part series – attracted 2.3 million average viewers and a 10.4% share between 9pm and 10pm, while Five’s ever-popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation picked up one million viewers and a 4.7% share.

Earlier on in the evening, BBC One banked a peak run with Eastenders and Holby City.  The channel’s flagship soap pulled in over 8.8 million peak viewers and a 37.5% audience share, followed by Holby City’s 5.3 million viewers and 22.6% share.

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.