TV Overnights: Boyzone tribute dominates the Sunday night ratings

Last night’s top prime time slot went to ITV1’s Boyzone: A Tribute to Stephen Gately programme, which attracted a high of more than 7.7 million viewers.

The hour-long tribute, placed in-between the channel’s popular Dancing on Ice shows, saw the four remaining band mates get together with Robbie Williams and Bono to celebrate Gately’s life following his death last October.

Over 7.4 million people tuned in to see the band perform with Westlife, as well as contributions from Mika, Sharon Osbourne and Paul O’Grady, banking a 27.7% average audience share for ITV1 between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.

Dancing on Ice, meanwhile, dominated the two slots before and after the one-off programme.  The first installment pulled in a high of more than 8.5 million viewers and a 29.8% audience share, while the second picked up 7.5 million viewers and a 28.5% share.

On Saturday, it was BBC One’s turn to lead the ratings.  The channel’s sports line-up held the peak share throughout most of the day with Football Focus, The Best of Sports Relief 2010 and Live Six Nations Rugby coverage.

The final game of the championship, between France and England, attracted over 6.5 million peak viewers and a 21.8% average audience share between 7.15pm and 10pm.

Over on ITV1 during the same slot, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories with Bruce Forsyth pulled in 4.7 million peak viewers, while Daniel Craig’s first James Bond film Casino Royale picked up 3.8 million peak viewers.

On Friday, BBC One also stole the prime time slot with Sport Relief 2010.  The three-hour charity programme, with Gary Linekar, Christine Bleakley and Richard Hammond, secured more than 9.4 million peak viewers and a 33.2% average audience share between 7pm and 10pm.

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.