Penultimate Law & Order: UK secures the top TV ratings

ITV1’s penultimate Law & Order: UK secured the highest ratings during the all-important 9pm to 10pm slot last night with more than 5.6 million peak viewers.

The second to last episode of the hit US re-make, which stars Bradley Walsh and Freema Agyeman, attracted over 5.3 million average viewers and a 23% share during the peak-hour, a million more viewers than its nearest rival.

BBC One’s long-running Crimewatch pulled in 4.1 million average viewers and a 17.7% share but managed to peak in the last 15 minutes of the hour-long programme with 4.6 million viewers, exactly a million less than ITV1’s peak ratings.

Elsewhere, Anna Richardson’s controversial new sex programme, The Sex Education Show v Pornography, gained a respectable 2 million viewers and 8.9% share for Channel 4.

Meanwhile, BBC Two’s Heroes picked up 1.7 million viewers and Five’s Extreme Fishing With Robson Green – five of eight episodes – pulled in 1.5 million.

Earlier on in the evening, ITV1’s Coronation Street secured the highest ratings of the night with more than 9.96 million peak viewers.

However, BBC One’s flagship soap Eastenders closed the gap with a marginally less 9.93 million peak viewers.

The two soaps are pulling out all the stops at the moment to bank in the highest ratings – Eastenders is focused on the build-up to Peggy and Archie’s big day, while Corrie fans have Tony and Maria, Ken’s affair and Peter’s drinking to contend with.

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.