TV Overnights: BBC One’s new Richard Hammond show races ahead

BBC One’s new peak-hour show Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds secured the highest ratings during last night’s prime time slot with 4.4 million peak viewers.

The programme, which saw the Top Gear presenter examine some of the invisible wonders that lie beyond the limits of the naked eye, attracted 4.3 million average viewers and a 17.6% share between 9pm and 10pm.

Channel 4 proved to be BBC One’s nearest competitor.  The channel’s popular documentary series One Born Every Minute pulled in over 3 million average viewers and a 12.5% audience share during the all-important peak-hour.

Meanwhile, ITV1’s crime drama Law & Order: UK, which stars Bradley Walsh and Harriet Walter, slipped down to third place with 2.4 million average viewers and a 10.1% share.

Over on Five, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation picked up 2.2 million viewers and a 9% share, while BBC Two’s new one-off documentary Battle for North America pulled in 1.8 million viewers and a 7.3% share.

Earlier on in the evening, BBC One dominated the pre-watershed slots.  Eastenders pulled in more than 8.9 million peak viewers, followed by Holby City, which attracted over 5.8 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.