Thurs ratings: 'Kidnap and Ransom' premieres to 4.3m on ITV1

The series premiere of Kidnap and Ransom opened with more than 4.3 million viewers last night, according to overnight data.



The ITV1 Kimberley Nixon drama averaged 4.33m (18.2%) in the 9pm hour to convincingly beat BBC One's Inside Men (3.55m/14.9%). An additional 341k (1.9%) caught Kidnap and Ransom on timeshift.

Earlier for BBC One, The Great British Countryside picked up 3.07m (12.6%).

Channel 5 had a particularly strong night thanks to Europa League football with Manchester United attracting 3.35m (14.2%).

In contrast, BBC Two's Raymond Blanc: The Very Hungry Frenchman and This World could only muster 1.2m (4.9%) and 753k (3.2%) respectively.

On Channel 4, Location, Location, Location grabbed 1.49m (6.1%) from 8pm (+1: 484k/2%) and Dispatches took 1.02m (4.3%) from 9pm (+1: 157k/0.9%).

ITV1 won primetime overall in convincing fashion with 21.2% (+1: 0.7%) ahead of BBC One's 18.1%. Channel 5 rocketed up to 11.1%, beating Channel 4's 4.8% (+1: 1%) and BBC Two's 4.3%.

On the multichannels, Celebrity Juice dominated for ITV2 with 1.61m (8.6%). The show also drew an additional 233k on +1.