TV Overnights: New Midsomer Murders wins a high of 5.5m

Midsomer Murders returned to ITV1 last night with a peak audience of more than 5.5 million viewers.

The mystery drama starring Neil Dudgeon attracted 4.7 million average viewers and a 20.4% audience share during the 8pm to 10pm prime time slot.

Despite securing the peak ratings for most of the evening, ITV1 lost out to BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are at 9.45pm.

The penultimate episode featuring Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb reached a peak audience of 4.1 million viewers in the final 9.45pm to 10pm slot. Overall, the programme banked 3.8 million average viewers and a 16.5% audience share between 9pm and 10pm.

On BBC Two, the new How to Win in the Den – which gives advice on succeeding in front of the Dragons – pulled in 1.2 million average viewers and a 5.3% audience share during the 9pm to 10pm peak-hour.

Meanwhile, Channel 4’s Grand Designs won a high of 2.6 million peak viewers and a 10.9% average share. At 10pm, the channel’s new comedy drama starring Jack Whitehall, Fresh Meat, started on a high of 1.7 million peak viewers.

At the same time, Big Brother picked up 1.3 million viewers for Channel 5, though its peak-hour show Law & Order: Criminal Intent settled on a low 785,000 viewers.

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.