BBC One And ITV1 Came Head To Head With New Shows Last Night

BBC One managed to win the battle of the new programmes with ITV1 last night, topping the ratings with the first in the series of Mutual Friends.

The new comedy drama, starring Marc Warren and Alexander Armstrong, pulled in more than 4.5 million average viewers with a 19.6% audience share between 9pm and 10pm.

ITV1’s rival show, Fiddles, Cheats & Scams with Morland Sanders, attracted 3.3 million average viewers at the same time.

Episode one of three of the new ITV1 programme about insurance cheats only gained a 14.4% audience share, 5% lower than BBC One.

Meanwhile, Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire continued to draw in the viewers with a 15.7% audience share and 3.6 million people during the hour-long slot, despite being half-way through the series.

Big Brother followed on Channel 4 at 10pm and also banked a reasonable share, peaking in the second half of the show with 3.2 million viewers and an average 17.3% audience share.

ITV1 peaked in the early evening slot with Emmerdale, which attracted over 6 million viewers in the first half of the programme and gained a substantial 29.3% average audience share between 7pm and 8pm.

BBC One’s Eastenders also pulled in over 6 million viewers in the last 15 minutes of the show between 7.45pm and 8pm, while securing an average 28% audience share during the full 30 minute 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.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com