TV Overnights: Midsomer Murders wins the top spot for ITV1

ITV1’s long-running crime drama Midsomer Murders attracted the highest ratings during the all-important peak slot yesterday with a high of 4.9 million viewers.

The 120-minute prime-time drama finished off ITV1’s peak run with a consistent 4.8 million average viewers and a 20.3% share between 8pm and 10pm.

Before that, the commercial channel’s Yorkshire-based soap Emmerdale pulled in a high of more than 6.7 million peak viewers, while the 30-minute show dedicated to the Terry and June star The Unforgettable Terry Scott picked up 4.4 million peak viewers and a 21.8% share.

ITV1 held the peak ratings from 7pm through to 10pm, despite competition from BBC One’s popular Waterloo Road and new nature programme Lost Land of the Tiger.

Over 4.1 million average viewers tuned in to watch the school drama Waterloo Road between 8pm and 9pm, while the second episode of Lost Land of the Tiger drew 3.4 million average viewers to BBC One during the 9pm to 10pm slot.

Elsewhere, Channel 4 had a fairly good run with the second episode of Food and Grand Designs, which attracted 1.5 million and 2.8 million average viewers respectively. BBC Two’s new programmes also banked decent figures during the 8pm and 9pm slots.

Battle of Britain: The Real Story with James Holland pulled in 2.3 million average viewers and a 9.9% share between 8pm and 9pm, while Britain’s Youngest Boarders picked up 1.8 million viewers and a 7.6% share for BBC Two between 9pm and 10pm.

Over on Channel 5, Melinda Messenger’s new Cowboy Builders attracted a respectable 1.4 million viewers during the 8pm to 9pm slot, although the usually-popular NCIS secured a fairly low 907,000 viewers during the 9pm to 10pm 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.