BBC One's Traffic Cops overpower Hell's Kitchen

by Nikki Sandison, Brand Republic 17-Apr-09, 11:00

LONDON - BBC One's 'Traffic Cops' documentary series won the prime time slot with 4.2m viewers, 700,000 more than tuned in for ITV1's 'Hell's Kitchen', according to unofficial overnight figures.

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Last night's instalment, which saw the Traffic Cops uncovering stashes of drugs that even a sniffer dog failed to find, attracted a 17.5% share of the 9pm-10pm audience.

It beat ITV1's 'Hell's Kitchen', which saw American superstar chef Mario Batali joining Marco Pierre White to put the celebrities through their paces with a special cooking challenge.

The programme pulled in 3.5m viewers and a 14.9% share of the audience, which was up 1m viewers on the previous night when it trailed BBC One's 'The Apprentice' by a long distance.

The fourth episode of Five's US crime drama 'The Mentalist', which saw fake psychic Patrick Jane investigating the death of a wealthy political donor, netted 2.3m viewers and a 9.6% share of the audience. The series' appeal appears to have faded somewhat after a big debut of 3.6m.

The first episode of 'Professor Regan's Diet Clinic', examining claims made by the diet industry, drew 1.7m viewers and a 7% share of the audience to BBC Two.

Channel 4's 'Missing: Race Against Time' documentary, following a handful of the 300 missing persons reports received by the Greater Manchester Police every week, scored 1.5m viewers and a 6.2% share of the audience. Including Channel 4+1 figures it reached 1.6m viewers.