Celebrity Big Brother kicks off with 5.8 million viewers

Celebrity Big Brother‘s comeback kicked off with over 5.8 million peak viewers on Friday night.

Channel 4’s live welcome show, which saw celebrities such as Michelle Heaton, Coolio and Austin Power’s star Verne enter the house, pulled in 5.4 million average viewers and a 22.4% audience share.

However, the controversial reality show’s initial ratings success dipped over the weekend, attracting just 2.7 million average viewers on Saturday and 2.8 million on Sunday.

Elsewhere, ITV1’s Coronation Street beat its BBC One soap rival Eastenders to the top spot on Friday evening, securing almost 10 million peak viewers ahead of Eastenders’ 9.3 million.

On Saturday evening, Chris Tarrant’s long-running Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Celebrity Special, starring GMTV’s medical expert Dr Hilary Jones and singer Jonathan Ansell, only managed to bank 4.1 million average viewers during the 9pm to 10pm peak-time slot.

However, Sunday evening proved to be more fruitful for ITV1, as its new crime thriller Above Suspicion pulled in more than 6.7 million average viewers and a 27.5% audience share between 9pm and 10.30pm.

At the same time, BBC One’s new documentary Swarm: Nature’s Incredible Invasions attracted over 5 million peak viewers with a 19.3% average audience share.

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.

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