Arsenal v Man United scores over 9m viewers

ITV1’s UEFA Champions League Live coverage attracted more than 9 million peak viewers during the all-important evening slot last night.

The Arsenal v Manchester United semi-final, which saw Man Utd win 3-1 at Arsenal’s home-ground with two goals from Ronaldo and one from Park, pulled in 7.4 million average viewers and a 31.8% share between 7.30pm and 10pm.

Meanwhile, the final episode of BBC One’s choir drama, All the Small Things, lost out to the football in the ratings war, apart from in the final fifteen minutes of the programme when it peaked with 4.4 million viewers.

However, the last in the series of the drama, starring Sarah Lancashire and Neil Pearson, attracted a respectable 3.9 million average viewers and a 16.4% audience share during the 9pm to 10pm peak-hour.

At the same time, Five’s ever-popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation pulled in over 2.7 million peak viewers and a 10.6% share, while Channel 4’s Born to Be Different: Turning Nine two-part documentary concluded with 1.9 million peak viewers and a 7.2% share.

Elsewhere, BBC Two’s new How Britain Got the Gardening Bug show with Caroline Quentin peaked with 1.9 million viewers, securing BBC Two with a 6.5% average audience share between 8.30pm and 10pm.

Earlier on in the evening, BBC One’s Eastenders won the battle of the soaps with a high of 7.9 million viewers and a 36.3% average share between 7.30pm and 8pm.

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.