The Apprentice attracts a high of 8m viewers

The Apprentice pulled in more than 8 million peak viewers last night, securing the highest ratings throughout the all-important 9pm to 10pm slot.

Over 7.4 million average viewers tuned in to see the candidates reach the half way mark in the contest to win a job with Sir Alan Sugar, banking a high 30.5% audience share for BBC One.

Elsewhere, ITV1’s Midsomer Murders repeat attracted 4.1 million average viewers and a 17.9% share between 8pm and 10pm – the episode from series 10 of the long-running crime drama peaked with 4.8 million viewers in the first fifteen minutes of the show.

Meanwhile, Channel 4’s ever-popular Grand Designs with Kevin McCloud picked up more than 2.2 million peak viewers and a 8.2% average audience share during the 9pm to 10pm peak-hour.

At the same time, Five’s Extraordinary People documentary series continued with ‘Octopus Man’, attracting over 1 million viewers, while BBC Two’s new three-part documentary investigating the science behind the weather, Rain, kick-started with a low 997,000 average viewers.

ITV1’s flagship soaps peaked earlier on in the evening, although failed to take Sir Alan’s limelight – Coronation Street pulled in a high of 7.9 million viewers, just below The Apprentice‘s 8 million peak viewers.

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.