Viewers Prefer Murder To Gentle Offerings

BBC1’s George Gently failed to get the better of ITV1’s Midsomer Murders, in the battle of Sunday night drama. Postponed from last week due to the epic conclusion of the men’s final at Wimbledon, the Martin Shaw programme pulled in 4.2 million adult viewers. Over on ITV1 Midsomer Murder attracted over 2 million more viewers, with an average viewing share of 30.1%.

Elsewhere the latest edition of Top Gear pulled in 4.7 million viewers, which featured newsreaders Fiona Bruce and Kate Silverton taking part in the regular feature ‘Stars in the Reasonably Priced Car’.

Though Australia’s version of the series has just been cancelled, Big Brother continues to pull in respectable figures for Channel 4. Last night viewers saw the housemates voting to choose the first ever Head of Household and was watched by 2.8 million adults.

Saturday night’s Last Choir Standing managed to retain most of viewers from the previous week. An average of 4.2 million adults tuned into the second edition of the singing competition, only 100,000 fewer than debut edition.

BBC2’s Carry On.. evening proved a hit with viewers for what was essentially an evening of repeats. Classic comedy Carry On Camping was watched by 2.3 million adults, while Cor Blimey held sway with 1.6 million. Previously broadcast on BBC4, the terrestrial airing of Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! pulled in 946,000 adult 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, ITV2 and Sky One.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk