TV Overnights: BBC One’s new Secret Britain secures the top slot

Last night, BBC One’s Secret Britain won the peak slot of 9pm to 10pm with the first episode of a new series. The hour long programme achieved an audience of just under 6 million viewers, and gained a share of 24.9%.

This was despite competition from ITV1’s The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle, which managed 2.4 million viewers and a 9.8% share.

Elsewhere, BBC Two’s Vexed secured 2.3 million viewers and a 9.4% share, while Channel 4’s Big Brother achieved 2.2 million viewers and a 9% share.

Five’s film, War, managed an audience of 1.7 million and an average share of 6.2%.

ITV1 won the 8pm to 9pm slot, with Heartbeat securing 4.8 million viewers and a 20.8% share.

BBC One dominated during the morning, with BBC Two’s Something for the Weekend briefly taking over from 10am to 11.30am (961,000 viewers and 13.4% share).

ITV1 won the afternoon ratings, with Columbo showing from 1.50pm to 3.50pm (1 million viewers and 11.2% share), and The Man with the Golden Gun airing from 3.50pm to 6pm (1.7 million viewers and 14.1% share).

On Saturday evening, BBC One’s Casualty won the 9pm to 10pm peak slot, with 5.2 million viewers and a 24.5% share.

ITV1 provided competition with 30 years of an Audience With, managing to secure just over 3 million viewers, and a 14.4% share.

BBC Two’s BBC Proms 2010, showing from 7.30pm to 9.40pm, achieved an average audience of 875,000 viewers (although peaked at 1.1 million viewers), and an average 4.5% share.

Channel 4’s Big Brother secured 1.6 million viewers and a 7.5% share, while Five’s CSI managed 1.3 million viewers and a 6.2% share.

BBC One dominated throughout the morning and afternoon.

On Friday night, BBC One’s My Family won the 9pm to 9.30pm slot, with 4.3 million viewers and a 12.1% share.

ITV1 secured the highest ratings from 9.30pm to 10pm, with Doc Martin achieving an average audience of 3.3 million, and a 15.3% share.

Elsewhere, Channel Four’s Big Brother managed 2.5 million viewers and a 11.7% share, while BBC Two’s Home Movie Roadshow secured 1.7 million viewers and a 7.9% share.

Five’s The Mentalist managed 1.4 million viewers and a 6.4% share.

BBC One dominated during the morning television schedule, as usual, with BBC Two and ITV1 winning some slots in the afternoon.

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.