So You Think You Can Dance found itself losing out in a ratings dogfight with ITV filler shows last night, early viewing figures indicate.
BBC One's much-hyped talent contest pulled in just 2.59m (16.9%) between 5.35pm and 6.45pm, then its results brought in 2.94m (15.2%).
People Do The Funniest Things logged 2.59m (16.3%) for ITV1 at 6pm, after which Sing If You Can took 3.91m (20.1%).
Sing If You Can, hosted by Keith Lemon and Stacey Solomon, also held up against Doctor Who which grabbed 5.74m (29.3%) for 'The Rebel Flesh', the first of a Matthew Graham-penned two-parter.
Doctor Who Confidential followed on BBC Three with 608k (3%) at 7.30pm, after which audiences of 714k (3.4%) for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 551k (3.9%) for Russell Howard Live: Dingledodies gave BBC Three a 2.5% share in primetime.
That matched ITV2's performances, following the surprisingly high rating of 697k (3.7%) at 10pm (+1: 196k) for a Celebrity Juice repeat.
Britain's Got Talent showed its resilience on ITV1 when its audience jumped to 9.63m (42.2%) at 8pm (+1: 371k), having fallen to 8.1m against Eurovision.
However, its 1.5m rise didn't much benefit ITV2 spinoff Britain's Got More Talent, which entertained 940k (4.2%) and 212k on +1.
Piers Morgan's Life Stories attracted 4.07m (18.2%) at 9pm, adding 282k on ITV1 +1. The interview with Des O'Connor was less popular than BBC One's Casualty, which had 4.65m (20.3%) for an episode titled 'A Quiet Life'.
Over on BBC Two, Dad's Army (7.30pm) and Have I Got A Bit More News For You (9pm) notched up 2.59m (13.3%) and 1.9m (8.4%), while The Million Pound Drop Live was the only bright spot in Channel 4's schedule with 1.79m (7.9%) between 9pm and 10.30pm (+1: 216k).
Meanwhile, CSI: New York was Channel 5's standout performer with 1.67m (8.1%) at 9.30pm.
Overall, ITV1 reigned victorious in primetime with 23.9% (+1: 1%) to BBC One's 17.7%. BBC Two claimed third place with 8.2%, followed by Channel 4 with 5.1% (+1: 0.7%), and Channel 5 with 4.8%.
Not far away from the terrestrial channels was ITV3, which was boosted by a classic Foyle's War episode which fetched 1.12m (5.6%) between 9pm and 11pm.
BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional 
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 3:18 pm