The Big Bang Theory, Celebrity Juice dominate multichannels

The Big Bang Theory and Celebrity Juice both pulled in large numbers last night, according to overnight data.



The E4 sitcom starring Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons took a hefty 1.11m (4.8%) and 365k (1.6%) on +1, despite being slightly down on last week's 100th episode, with Celebrity Juice grabbing 1.75m (9%) on ITV2 from 10pm (+1: 303k/2.8%).

Elsewhere on E4, a brand new episode of Happy Endings entertained 261k (1.1%).

On the terrestrials, Long Lost Family won the 9pm hour with 4.86m (21.2%). An additional 289k (1.6%) saw it on timeshift.

On BBC One, Watchdog drew 4.38m (18.5%) from 8pm, with Out of Africa: Ivory Wars managing 2.26m (9.9%) afterwards.

Peter Kay Live at the Bolton Albert Halls appealed to 3.04m (13.3%) on Channel 4 (+1: 407k/2.3%). Earlier, Get Your House in Order was seen by 955k (4%) with 294k (1.3%) on +1.

From 10pm, Ricky Gervais's Derek was watched by 1.86m (9.2%) and 246k (2.1%) on timeshift.

BBC Two showed Natural World (1.67m/7%) and White Heat (1.16m/5.1%).

Channel 5's airing of The Perfect Storm attracted 721k (3.8%).

Overall, ITV1 won primetime with 21.9% (+1: 0.7%) ahead of BBC One's 18.1%. Channel 4's 7.2% (+1: 1.2%) beat BBC Two's 6.6%, while Channel 5's 2.9% (+1: 0.1%) staved off ITV2's 2.6% (+1: 0.3%) to hold on to fifth place.

There's a strong chance that E4 will soon become Freeview's fifth HD channel as the BBC have put their spare HD channel up for sale. At present only four of the five available Freeview HD channels are in use. Channel Five has so far shown no sign of wanting a Freeview HD channel of its own and the BBC says it cannot afford to launch a third HD channel to compliment BBC1-HD and BBC-HD (soon to become BBC2-HD).

E4 has the advantage that its most popular shows are already made in HD for American audiences.