TV Overnights: BBC Two scoops the peak-hour ratings with King George

BBC Two’s new King George and Queen Mary: The Royals Who Rescued the Monarchy banked the all-important prime time ratings last night with a high of 3.5 million viewers.

The first episode of the two part documentary, which concludes tonight, attracted more than 3.4 million average viewers and a 13.7% audience share during the 9pm to 10pm slot to claim the top ratings.

2.8 million peak viewers tuned in to ITV1 for the new series of The Biggest Loser, which will see 14 new overweight contestants embark on a gruelling weight-loss challenge. The first of nine episodes secured 2.7 million average viewers and a 10.9% share during the peak-hour.

Over on BBC One, a last minute change to the schedule saw a documentary about Stephen Lawrence air in the 9pm to 10pm slot. The programme, which was broadcast instead of the new Public Enemies drama following the guilty verdict of Gary Dobson and David Norris yesterday, achieved an average audience of 2.6 million viewers and a 10.5% share.

Channel 4’s new documentary Accused: The 74 Stone Babysitter, about an American murder trial which saw a 74 stone woman confess to beating her two-year-old nephew to death despite being bed-ridden and immobile, pulled in 2.1 million viewers and a 6.1% average share between 9pm and 10pm.

Meanwhile, Channel 5’s 9 o’clock film Thirteen: Conspiracy settled on over a million viewers and a 5.5% share.

BBC One dominated the ratings with Eastenders and Holby City in the early evening slots. The long-running BBC One soap peaked with 9.4 million viewers and a 37.7% average share between 7.30pm and 8pm, before Holby City hit a high of 5.5 million viewers in the pre-watershed 8pm to 9pm 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.