The Apprentice Bags Six Million

The start of the new series of The Apprentice attracted around six million adults to BBC One last night, giving the channel a 26% viewing share between 9pm and 10pm.

The programme, which divided the final 16 hopefuls into teams of girls versus boys to sell a van load of fresh fish, was the most watched programme in the timeslot, easily beating ITV1 and Channel 4’s offerings.

ITV1’s Rock Rivals continued to struggle with around two million viewers (8.6%), whilst Channel 4’s Grand Designs Revisited pulled in around three million (13%).

Earlier, police drama The Bill on ITV1 beat BBC One’s Motorway Cops: A Traffic Cops Special. The coppers of Sun Hill gained just under 4.9 million adult viewers, whilst the BBC’s reality show attracted around 4.5 million.

A repeat of Relocation Relocation over on Channel 4 managed to gain an audience of almost 2.4 million, equating to a 10.7% viewing share between 8pm and 9pm.

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, ITV2 and Sky One.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com