TV Overnights: I’m a Celebrity grabs 8.4m viewers for ITV1

ITV1 secured the prime time slot last night with the third episode of I’m a Celebrity peaking with 8.4 million viewers.

After taking a break from the schedules on Tuesday, to make way for England’s victory over Sweden, the reality show returned with a prime time audience share of 29%. An average of 7.5 million viewers tuned in to watch TOWIE‘s Mark Wright beat the former Mrs Hart, Stephanie Powers, in another gruesome bush trucker trial.

ITV1’s jungle hijinks beat BBC1’s Frozen Planet to the top spot – an average of 5.7 million people watched David Attenborough narrate his way through the Autumn-themed forth episode of the nature series. The documentary, which focuses on the natural life in both the Artic and Antarctic, regions had a much smaller audience share (22%) than its prime time rival and peaked with 6 million viewers in the last fifteen minutes.

The Impressions Show, which preceded Frozen Planet, didn’t fare so well, peaking at 2.7 million. Emmerdale had the second highest audience of the day and dominated the pre-watershed schedule. The rural soap attracted an average of 6.8 million viewers, with an impressive 30% audience share.

Over on BBC2 Michel Roux put the five remaining masochists through their paces on Masterchef: The Professionals, pulling in an average audience of 3 million. Viewer interest peaked (3.4 million) in the final fifteen minutes as another contestant was sent on their way.

The first episode of Pan Am, the latest in a line of glamorous 60’s-set dramas, followed with a peak audience of 2 million. Interest in the American show, which stars Christina Ricci as an air stewardess on the eponymous airline, dwindled with the second episode – ending with an audience of 1.4 million viewers.