The Apprentice races ahead

The Apprentice raced ahead in the peak-hour ratings war last night with more than 7.8 million peak viewers, more than double the number of viewers compared to its closest terrestrial channel rival between 9pm and 10pm.

More than 7.6 million average viewers tuned in to see the wannabes launch a brand identity and TV ad campaign for a new breakfast cereal in a bid to impressive Sir Alan Sugar, securing BBC One with a high 32% audience share.

At the same time, ITV1’s on-going Hell’s Kitchen series pulled in a fairly low 3.1 million average viewers and a 13.3% share, despite Bruce Grobbelaar’s shock exit.

Elsewhere, Channel 4’s long-running Grand Designs with Kevin McCloud attracted 2.3 million peak viewers and a 9% share, while BBC Two’s new documentary with Griff Rhys-Jones, Restoration Revisited, peaked with 1.9 million viewers.

ITV1 managed to bank the early evening peak audience with a run of its flagship shows – Emmerdale, Coronation Street and The Bill.

Out of the three programmes, Coronation Street pulled in the highest ratings with a peak of 7.8 million viewers and a high 38.4% 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.