Nearly 10m watch Shilton's 'Strictly' exit

[dutchman]

Almost 10 million people watched Peter Shilton's exit from Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday evening, according to the latest audience data.



The show, which saw the former England goalkeeper become the third celebrity to leave the competition, averaged 9.48m (35.5%) for BBC One from 7.30pm, up 548k week-on-week. A further 382k (1.4%) watched the programme on BBC HD.

Strictly Come Dancing was followed on BBC One by Antiques Roadshow, which pulled in 5.64m (19.7%) and 263k (0.9%) in HD.

The third live results show of The X Factor appealed to 12.84m (44.9%) on ITV1 in the 8pm hour, while 808k (2.8%) tuned in on ITV1 HD.

Single Father, a new drama series starring David Tennant, secured 3.88m (14.5%) on BBC One in the 9pm hour and 194k (0.7%) on BBC HD.

However, the show was soundly beaten by Downton Abbey, after the drama mustered 8.31m (31.3%) on ITV1 and 345k (1.3%) on ITV1 HD.

Earlier on ITV1, The Cube appealed to 5.39m (21.4%) from 7pm and 165k (0.7%) in HD, but it was outperformed by Countryfile, which brought in 6.92m (30.1%) on BBC One from 6.30pm and 155k (0.7%) on BBC HD.

BBC Two's The Four Feathers entertained 1.36m (5.9%) between 6pm and 8pm, before Attenborough's Journey had 1.73m (6%).

Dragons' Den: What Happened Next? took 1.77m (6.6%) on BBC Two in the 9pm hour. It was followed by Match Of The Day 2, which grabbed 3.37m (18.5%).

Over at Channel 4, The Genius Of British Art educated 570k (2.3%) in the 8pm hour and 43k (0.2%) on timeshift. The programme was followed by Undercover Boss USA, which had 710k (2.5%) and 107k (0.4%) on Channel 4 +1.

A new series of The Secret Millionaire premiered to 1.98m (7.4%) from 9pm and 249k (1.3%) an hour later, before Desperate Housewives entertained 1.34m (7.2%) and 83k (0.9%) on timeshift.

On Channel 5, screenings of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Bad Santa grabbed respective audiences of 812k (2.9%) and 1.07m (4.7%) from 6.30pm.

Overall, ITV1 owned primetime with 29.2% (HD: 1.4%) against BBC One's 20.4%. BBC Two came in third with 8.7%, followed by Channel 4 with 4.6% (+1: 0.5%) and Channel 5 with 4%.

Elsewhere, spinoff show The Xtra Factor appealed to 924k (3.4%) on ITV2 from 9pm and 140k (0.7%) an hour later.

The programme was followed on ITV2 by new reality series The Only Way Is Essex, which had 604k (2.8%) and 66k (0.6%) on timeshift.

Sky1's new detective series Thorne: Sleepyhead continued to 409k (1.5%) in the 9pm hour.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional