TV Overnights: The Bill banks the peak-hour top spot

ITV1’s long-running police drama, The Bill, secured the highest ratings during the all-important peak-hour last night.

The post-watershed programme pulled in over 4.4 million average viewers and a 19.9% audience share between 9pm and 10pm, ahead of BBC One’s new peak-hour show.

Inside the Perfect Predator, a new documentary looking at ground-breaking technology used to examine some of the world’s extraordinary hunters, attracted a lower three million viewers and a 13.7% share for BBC One.

At the same time, Channel 4’s Cutting Edge documentary following The Air Hospital picked up more than two million viewers and a 9.1% share, while BBC Two’s The Money Programme investigated The Toyota Story, which banked 1.1 million viewers and a 5.3% share.

Over on Five, the film premiere of Felon, starring Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer, attracted 991,000 average viewers and a 5.1% share between 9pm and 11.05pm, despite starting on a high of more than one million viewers.

Earlier on in the evening, the soaps dominated the pre-watershed line-up.  BBC One’s Eastenders picked up more than nine million peak viewers and a 39.9% share, while two trips to ITV1’s Emmerdale secured over 7.9 million peak viewers and a 33% average share.

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.