TV Overnights: ITV1’s Dancing on Ice skates away with 8.2m

ITV1’s popular Dancing on Ice attracted a peak audience of more than 8.2 million viewers during last night’s prime-time slot.

The celebrity dancing competition achieved an average audience of 7.7 million viewers and a 28.7% audience share between 6.35pm and 8.30pm.

Wild at Heart followed with 6.3 million average viewers and a 22.3% share, before The Skate Off show, which peaked with 6.4 million viewers at 9.45pm.

However, ITV1 failed to dominate the ratings throughout the full evening. The channel secured the top spot until 8.30pm, when viewers turned over to BBC One’s new South Riding.

The three-part Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Winifred Holtby’s novel picked up more than 6.6 million average viewers and a 23.9% audience share between 9pm and 10pm.

ITV1 did, however, manage to claim the peak ratings during the afternoon with the Live FA Cup Football. The Manchester City v Notts County match scored a high of 3.6 million viewers and a 21.1% average share between 1.30pm and 4.10pm.

On Saturday, the Manchester United v Crawley Town FA Cup game also banked the top ratings for ITV1 – peaking with 7.1 million viewers and a 27.5% average share between 4.35pm and 7.15pm.

However, BBC One dominated the ratings for the majority of Saturday’s schedule with Football Focus, Live Athletics, Let’s Dance for Comic Relief and The National Lottery.

The channel’s Live Athletics coverage banked 1.6 million average viewers between 1pm and 4.30pm, while the first of four Let’s Dance for Comic Relief shows started on a high of 8.2 million peak viewers.

At 9.10pm, BBC One’s long-running hospital drama Casualty attracted over 6 million average viewers and a 25.8% share.

Meanwhile, ITV1’s Saturday night line-up saw Ant & Dec’s Push the Button pick up 4 million viewers, Take Me Out pull in 3.9 million, and Benidorm settle on 2.6 million.

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.