TV Overnights: ITV1’s semi-final coverage scored a high of 10.3m viewers

ITV1’s World Cup Live: Holland v Uruguay secured the highest ratings with ease last night after banking an impressive 10.3 million peak viewers.

The semi-final, which saw Holland win a place in the 2010 World Cup final against either Germany or Spain after a 3-2 win, pulled in almost 8 million average viewers and a 35.3% audience share between 7pm and 9.30pm.

As a result, ITV1’s ratings raced well ahead of its rival terrestrial channels during the prime time slot.  BBC One’s regular Tuesday-evening line-up came second to ITV1 – Holby City attracted over 4 million average viewers and a 16.9% share in the pre-watershed hour, while a New Tricks repeat picked up 3.4 million viewers and a 14.4% share during the all-important 9pm to 10pm peak-hour.

At the same time, Channel 4’s The Sex Education Show continued with a decent 3.3 million peak viewers and a 12.3% share, while Five’s ever-popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation pulled in a high of 1.3 million viewers and a 4.9% share.

BBC Two split the 9pm to 10pm slot between Miranda and Top Gear.  The second episode of Miranda pulled in a low 863,000 viewers, although Top Gear peaked with a higher 1.3 million viewers in the second 30-minute slot.

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.