ITV1's Murderland outstrips BBC One and Five with 6.3m audience

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 20-Oct-09, 10:55

LONDON - ITV1 topped last night's primetime ratings with 6.3 million viewers tuning in to Robbie Coltrane's return as a TV detective in new drama 'Murderland', according to unofficial overnight figures.

BBC One, which had comfortably won last week's 9pm ratings battle, was hit by a massive drop in the audience for its new natural history series 'Life' from 6.5m to 4.6m, and Five's 'Flash Forward' also suffered viewer defections.

The fourth episode of 'Flash Forward' was watched by 2.6 million viewers, down from the 3.2 million who watched last week.

This gave Five a 10.5% share of viewing compared to ITV1's 25.8% and Channel 4's 7.2%.

Channel 4's documentary 'Age 8 and Wanting a Sex Change' drew 1.8 million, coming in ahead the concluding episode of BBC Two's 'Design For Life'.

The design take on 'The Apprentice' format managed just 900,000 viewers.