An emotional episode of The X Factor which saw Tulisa Contostavlos brought to tears by contestant and mum-of-four Michelle Barrett maintained stellar ratings for ITV1.
Michelle Barrett on X-Factor
The talent contest pulled in 10.79m (44.5%) viewers from 8pm, and a further 290k (1.3%) on ITV+1. The Xtra Factor with Caroline Flack and Olly Murs added 1.24m (5.6%) on ITV2 following the conclusion of the main show.
Earlier on in the evening, All Star Family Fortunes attracted 5.19m (24.5%), with an extra 90k (0.4%) opting to catch up an hour later. Rounding off the evening, The Jonathan Ross Show held on to 4.1m (18.5%), a massive improvement on last week. Impressive +1 ratings of 345k (1.9%) will surely please the channel's bosses.
On BBC One, Doctor Who nabbed 5.17 (23.8%) for an episode featuring David Walliams. The National Lottery: Secret Fortune, Casualty, Live At The Apollo and Match of the Day subsequently took audiences of 3.57m (14.8%), 4.47m (19.5%), 3.03m (14.6%) and 3.87m (26.7%) respectively.
BBC Two's primetime schedule opened with 1.92m (8.6%) for Dad's Army at 7.30pm. A Culture Show special interested just 510k (2.1%), though QI:XL improved the channel's fortunes to 1.41m (6.3%). The Other Boleyn Girl starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson entertained 1.22m (7.1%).
Channel 4's River Cottage suffered from the onslaught of competition in the 8pm hour, taking just 830k (3.4%) and 194k (0.9%) on +1. The Million Pound Drop quizzed 1.75m for an 8.1% share (+1: 167k, 0.9%), while Oscar-winning film The Departed scored 0.48m (4.4%).
Big Brother continued on Channel 5 with 925k (5.3%), upstaged by a boxing match between Tyson Fury and Nicolai Firtha, which lured 1.03m (4.6%).
Overall, ITV1 led primetime with 25.4%, followed by BBC One with 19.4%. BBC Two, Channel 4 and Channel 5 trailed with 5.8%, 5.3% and 4.3% respectively.
Hearing Tulisa sing live brought tears to my eyes once but for completely different reasons
