TV Overnights: ITV1’s new Midsomer Murders secures the top spot

ITV1’s new Midsomer Murders banked the all-important prime time ratings last night with a high of more than six million viewers.

The two-hour long crime drama attracted a steady average audience of more than 5.8 million viewers and a 24% share between 8pm and 10pm, despite competition from BBC One’s Indiana Jones film.

Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom pulled in almost four million average viewers and a 16.4% share between 8.10pm and 10pm.

Elsewhere, Channel 4’s second Hugh’s Big Fish Fight claimed third place in the peak-hour ratings war.  The hour-long documentary picked up 1.8 million viewers and a 7.7% average share between 9pm and 10pm.

At the same time, BBC Two’s Edwardian Farm and Channel 5’s NCIS secured an equal 1.5 million average viewers each, though Channel 5 scored a slightly higher 6.3% share compared to BBC Two’s 6.1%.

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.