'Talent' final peaks with 19.2 million
Over 19 million tune in for the final of Britain's Got Talent.
By Neil Wilkes
The final of Britain's Got Talent peaked with over 19 million viewers last night, according to early figures.
A peak audience of 19.19m (71.6%) were tuned in to ITV1 at 9.50pm to see dance act Diversity crowned the surprise winners over long-time favourite Susan Boyle. The ratings figure is thought to be the highest ever peak for a reality TV programme in the UK.
Overall, the 30-minute results programme averaged a huge 17.33m (67.6%) for ITV between 9.30pm and 10pm.
The earlier Talent show, which saw the ten finalists take to the stage to give their performances, averaged out to 15.32m (71%) between 6.45pm and 8.30pm. A peak audience of 18.02m (75%) were watching at 8.10pm.
ITV2's spinoff show Britain's Got More Talent also benefited from the buzz surrounding finale night. A pre-results programme, shown between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, picked up 1.64m (8.3%), then the post-results show averaged 2.37m (13.5%) from 10pm. The channel's coverage peaked with 3.09m (15.6%) at 10.05pm.
In between the two Talent shows on ITV1, celebrity gameshow All Star Mr & Mrs had a predictably strong performance, averaging 7.3m (33.1%). Straight after the Talent final, new comedy Mumbai Calling launched to a decent 4.88m (23.4%).
ITV1's average primetime share was a colossal 49.2%, while ITV2 averaged 5.4%.
BBC One took a huge hit opposite the competition last night, dropping to an average audience share of just 10.5%.
Robin Hood logged its lowest ever audience at 7.25pm, with just 1.94m (8.5%) tuning in over 45 minutes. The Lottery draws followed with 1.59m (6.7%), then Casualty grew the audience to an evening high of 4.34m (19.7%).
BBC Two was mostly unaffected last night, with 2.01m (9.1%) tuning in for a Dad's Army repeat at 8.30pm. Documentary Bloody Omaha, about the D-Day landing in Normandy, put in 1.64m (6.9%) in the 9pm hour, then an extended version of Have I Got News For You appealed to 2.77m (13.5%). The channel averaged an overall share of 7.1%.
Five attracted audiences of 799k (3.5%) and 1.1m (4.6%) for NCIS from 8pm, then a new episode of CSI: NY brought in 1.89m (9.6%). Law & Order closed off prime for Five with 924k (8.2%). Overall, Five averaged out to a 5% share.
Channel 4 was last among the terrestrials, averaging a share of 3.5% (+1: 0.3%) for its night of Hitler-themed programming. The Hitler Family, about the evil dictator's efforts to hide his family, interested 934k (4.1%) in the 8pm hour. The concluding half of Hitler - The Rise Of Evil followed with 921k (4.2%) over two hours.
Ratings data supplied by Attentional
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