BBC One drama debuts with edge over ITV1

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 01-Apr-09, 11:00

LONDON - BBC One beat ITV1 on Tuesday night with the first episode of a new drama about a church choir, 'All The Small Things', attracting 4.6m viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

ITV1 screened the third and final part of 'Holloway', a documentary about life in the prison. It was watched by 3.7m people, or 16.1% of the audience to BBC One's 19.9% share, at 9-10pm.

'Holloway' held its audience fairly well over its run after starting with 4.2m viewers three weeks ago.

The audience was also held by the first part of 'All The Small Things' - 4.6m watched the first quarter-hour and 4.7m the last quarter-hour.

Channel 4 is tackling the nation's sexual ignorance this week with 'The Sex Education Show vs Pornography', running at 9-10pm Monday to Wednesday and 10-11pm on Thursday.

The show's audience increased last night to 2.3m (a 9.8% share) from 2.1m (a 9% share) on Monday. It also got a fairly big Channel 4+1 audience of 339,000.

However, Five came in 600,000 viewers, ahead of C4 at 9-10pm, with the 12th in a 24-episode run of 'CSI', watched by 2.9m and a 12.5% share.

BBC Two lagged with 2.1m viewers for a 'Horizon' special giving an everyman's guide to the complex world of maths, using actor and comedian Alan Davies as a co-presenter with maths professor Marcus du Sautoy.