Sunday ratings: 'The White Queen' opens with over 5.3m

The White Queen enjoyed a decent start on BBC One, overnight data reveals.



The War of the Roses drama topped the ratings on Sunday, launching with 5.34 million viewers (22.8%) at 9pm.

Earlier, Countryfile interested 4.93m (24.8%) at 7pm, followed by Antiques Roadshow with 4.53m (20.5%) at 8pm.

Match of the Day's live Confederations Cup game between Spain and Uruguay scored 1.35m (14.9%) at 10.30pm. BBC Three's broadcast of Mexico vs Italy brought in 1.03m (4.6%) at 7.30pm.

On BBC Two, Peter Jones Meets... was down to 599,000 (3.0%) at 7pm. Operation Snow Tiger was seen by 1.83m (8.3%) at 8pm. Rise of the Continents secured 1.46m (6.2%), while the soon-to-be-knighted Tony Robinson starred in a classic Blackadder II episode with 1.41m (7.4%) at 10pm.

ITV's Tipping Point with Ben Shephard entertained 2.85m (14.3%) at 7pm (216k/1.0% on +1). Poirot dropped over 700k viewers from last week's opener to 3.85m (16.9%) at 9pm (208k/1.0%).

On Channel 4, Terror in the Skies was watched by 966k (4.4%) at 8pm (168k/0.7%). French drama The Returned was down around 300k from last week to 984k (4.3%) at 9pm (239k/1.5%).

Channel 5's Big Brother held steady at 1.28m (5.5%) at 9pm (234k/1.4%), while Once Upon a Time continued with 882k (4.0%) at 8pm.

ITV2's The Only Way is Essex entertained 718k (4.1%) at 10pm.

Didn't watch the opening myself (forgot it was on) but found this piece online which is pretty much what I expected:

Dedicated fans of Game of Thrones may have got a sense of déjà vu as they watched the opening of The White Queen, BBC1’s new Sunday-night costume drama.

It wasn’t just that there’s a faint Throney feel to the layered credit sequence for Emma Frost’s series (adapted from Philippa Gregory’s historical novels), and a faint echo of its credit music too. But the scene that followed – a fugitive running through a snow-covered forest – was very similar in mood to the first one ever seen in HBO’s fantasy epic. Was this by accident or design? Well, it must surely have occurred to somebody that an audience with a taste for late-medieval trappings and courtly plotting might find Plantagenet dynastic skulduggery to their taste as well. But if it was intended as bait, and if any Game of Thrones fans took it, I don’t think it will be long before they spit out the hook. Not only is The White Queen unforgivably light on dragons, it also strikes you as considerably less historically plausible than Game of Thrones, despite being based on real events.