The terrestrial premiere of controversial US drama The Kennedys captivated 2.6 million viewers on Friday evening, according to overnight audience data.
A double bill of The Kennedys, starring Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear and Tom Wilkinson, averaged 2.47m (11.1%) for BBC Two from 9pm and 2.21m (10.8%) from 9.45pm. The episodes also had 171k (0.8%) and 152k (0.7%) on the BBC HD channel.
On BBC One, A Question of Sport grabbed 2.74m (11.7%) from 8.30pm. My Family and Miranda amused 4.09m (18.2%) and 3.51m (16.1%) in the 9pm hour, outperforming The Paul O'Grady Show's 3.38m (15.2%) on ITV1 and 176k (1%) on +1.
Earlier, Love Thy Garden enchanted 3.17m (14%) on ITV1 from 8pm and 152k (0.7%) on timeshift, while Gardeners' World mustered just 2.1m (9.1%) on BBC Two in the 8pm hour.
Channel 4's Come Dine With Me served up 1.38m (6%) from 8pm and 297k (1.3%) on +1. 8 Out of 10 Cats and new series King Of... grabbed 1.49m (6.6%) and 1.2m (5.5%) in the 9pm hour, along with 251k (1.3%) and 154k (0.9%) on timshift. Alan Carr: Chatty Man returned with 1.54m (8.5%) from 10pm and 219k (2%) an hour later.
Cricket On 5 scored with 601k (3.1%) on Channel 5 from 7pm, before How Do They Do It? fetched 302k (1.4%). Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers loaded up 1.54m (6.7%) in the 8pm hour, and US crime drama Castle entertained 1.69m (7.6%) from 9pm. Law & Order locked up 1.02m (5.5%) from 10pm.
Overall, ITV1 narrowly won primetime with 21.1% (+1: 0.6%) against BBC One's 19.6%. BBC Two came in third with 8.7%, ahead of Channel 4's 5.7% (+1: 0.9%) and Channel 5's 5.5%.
Elsewhere, a double bill of America's Got Talent appealed to 580k (2.6%) and 702k (3.8%) on ITV2 from 9pm.
The BBC picked-up The Kennedys for next-to-nothing because no major US network wanted it.
