Ratings: The Hoarder Next Door starts brightly for Channel 4

The Hoarder Next Door, a series exploring the most extreme clutter in Britain, supplied Channel 4 with the ammunition to beat BBC Two last night (May 3).



Starring psychotherapist Stelios Kiosses, the programme averaged 2.73m (11.6%) in the 9pm hour, adding 473k on Channel 4 +1 - overall a rapid improvement on last week's factual offering.

Elsewhere on the broadcaster, The World's Largest Snake terrified 1.56m (6.6%) at 8pm (+1: 462k), and Extreme A&E interested 1.29m (7.2%) later on at 10pm (+1: 173k).

Long Lost Family continued to perform solidly with 4.44m (18.9%) for ITV1 in the 9pm hour (+1: 276k), maintaining its lead over BBC One's New Tricks repeats, the latest of which had 4.15m (17.5%).

Watchdog retained a loyal 4.15m (17.4%) at 8pm, while 2.87m (22.2%) watched Question Time from 10.35pm. ITV1's Tonight programme logged 2.84m (13.4%) at 7.30pm.

With it generally being a quiet night on the terrestrial channels, BBC Two's Shakespeare in Italy - part of a season on the poet and playwright - mustered 901k (3.8%) at 9pm. Grandma's House followed with 615k (3%).

World's Scariest Flights (839k/3.5%) and The Restaurant Inspector (705k/3%) aired on Channel 5 between 8pm and 10pm.

Overall, ITV1 led primetime with 21.2% (+1: 0.7%), ahead of BBC One's 20.6%. Channel 4 claimed third place with 7.2% (+1: 1.4%), beating BBC Two's 5.5% and Channel 5's 3.2% (+1: 0.1%).

'Russell Howard's Good News' soars to 850,000 on BBC Three



Russell Howard's Good News programme soared to a series high last night (Thursday), overnight data reveals.

Howard's topical comedy series grabbed 845k (3.5%) in the 9pm hour for BBC Three, adding 363k (8.7%) at 12.30am.

The figures suggest that the stand-up's show may be returning to its 2010 peak, when first showings were breaking the 1m mark.

Only Celebrity Juice and The Big Bang Theory performed better on the night, but Good News will likely double its audience with repeats over the coming week.

Celebrity Juice was the most-watched multichannel show of the night with 1.65m (8.5%) for ITV2, beating programming on BBC Two, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The Keith Lemon gameshow added 221k on ITV2 +1.

Matt Edmondson's Totally Bonkers World Records followed Juice with 514k (3.7%), while Olly Murs's Life on Murs had 293k (1.2%) at 9pm.

The Big Bang Theory continued to perform well, grabbing 1.15m (5%) at 8pm and 367k an hour later on E4 +1. A second instalment half an hour later at 8.30pm fetched 680k (2.8%) and 311k on timeshift.

Finally, 2 Broke Girls pulled in 509k (2.1%) at 9pm, down another hundred thousand week-on-week.

Overall, ITV2 was the top digital channel with a share of 2.5% (+1: 0.3%) across primetime, edging E4's 2.1% (+1: 1.1%). BBC Three, meanwhile, averaged 2%.