The Apprentice secures the highest ratings

BBC One’s The Apprentice banked the highest ratings during the all-important 9pm to 10pm peak slot last night with more than 7.3 million peak viewers.

Alan Sugar’s fourth task, which saw the teams make and sell two new natural bath and beauty products, attracted over 7 million average viewers and a 28.4% audience share.

At the same time, ITV1’s all-new Hell’s Kitchen with Marco Pierre White just pipped Channel 4’s Grand Designs, with 2.4 million average viewers compared to C4’s 2.2 million.

BBC Two just managed to beat Five’s Extraordinary People in the peak-hour ratings war as well – with the last in the series of Alan Whicker’s Journey of a Lifetime, which pulled in 1.7 million viewers to Five’s 1.5 million.

Earlier on in the evening, ITV1 stole the show with a peak run of some of its flagship programmes – Emmerdale, Coronation Street and The Bill.

Emmerdale kick-started the run with more than 7 million peak viewers from 7pm onwards, followed by Coronation Street with over 8.6 million peak viewers and a impressive 41.3% average share.

ITV1’s long-running crime series, The Bill, peaked with 4.8 million peak viewers, putting it ahead of BBC One’s rival drama Waterloo Road, which attracted 4 million average viewers 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 and key multi-channel stations.