TV Overnights: Lynda La Plante’s new drama proves popular for ITV1
ITV1’s new three-part detective drama Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia managed to race ahead of BBC One’s new Hustle series during the all-important 9pm to 10pm slot last night.
The new Lynda La Plante’s drama starring Kelly Reilly and Ciaran Hinds, which continues tonight, attracted more than 6.5 million average adult viewers and a 26.3% audience share during the peak hour.
The return of BBC One’s crime drama Hustle, meanwhile, pulled in a slightly lower 5.7 million adult viewers and a 23.3% average audience share during the same hour-long time slot.
However, both programmes’ ratings were well ahead of the remaining three rival terrestrial channels. Channel 4’s new two-part Generation XXL, a documentary that follows overweight children, picked up 1.5 million average adult viewers and a 6.3% share.
BBC Two’s film premiere of Death Defying Acts, a romantic period drama with Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones, came in at an even lower 952,000 average adult viewers and a 3.8% share between 8.30pm and 10pm, closely followed by Five’s 9pm western film Wyatt Earp, which pulled in 695,000 viewers and a 4.4% average share.
At 10pm, the second episode of Channel 4’s latest and last Celebrity Big Brother series – with housemates including Katie Price’s boyfriend Alex Reid, Dane Bowers and Vinnie Jones – attracted just over three million average adult viewers and a 17% share, while BBC Two’s new offbeat comedy Nurse Jackie started on one million viewers and a 5% average share.
Earlier on in the evening, ITV1’s Coronation Street claimed the top soap spot over BBC One’s Eastenders with a high of more than 10 million adult viewers compared to Eastenders’ 9.8 million peak adult viewers.
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | Five | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 | Eastenders (9.6m) | University Challenge (2.7m) | The Lakes (4.5m) | The Mystery of the Nevada Triangle (1.7m) | Police Interceptors (0.7m) |
| 20:30 | DIY SOS (3.9m) | Death Defying Acts (0.9m) | Coronation Street (9.7m) | ||
| 21:00 | Hustle (5.7m) | Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia (6.5m) | Generation XXL (1.5m) | Wyatt Earp (0.7m) | |
| 21:30 | |||||
| 22:00 | BBC News (4.9m) | Nurse Jackie (1.0m) | ITV News at Ten (3.0m) | Celebrity Big Brother (3.0m) | |
| 22:30 | Face/Off (1.5m) | Newsnight (0.8m) | The Time Machine (1.1m) |
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.