TV ratings - 2 JanuaryTV ratings: Vampires draw first blood

TV ratings - 2 JanuaryTV ratings: Vampires draw first blood in battle with Cylons




Vampires had the better of Cylons in the battle of imported US dramas on multichannel TV last night, Tuesday 2 February.

ITV2's The Vampire Diaries, following in the footsteps of the Twilight movie franchise, True Blood and BBC3's Being Human, did better than Sky1's Caprica, the prequel to acclaimed sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica, which tells the story of the creation of the Cylons – robots destined to wage war on mankind.

The Vampire Diaries began its 22-part run at 9pm with an audience of 847,000 viewers, a 3.5% share of the multichannel audience, according to unofficial overnight ratings.

Another 133,000 watched an hour later on the catchup service ITV2 +1, taking the total audience to 980,000.

The second episode, shown at 10pm, attracted 583,000 viewers and a 3.1% share, with another 133,000 on ITV2+1.

Caprica, meanwhile, debuted with 169,000 and 135,000 for its first two episodes on Sky1 at 9pm and 10pm, a 0.7% multichannel share for both episodes.

The most watched multichannel programme of the night was ITV4's coverage of the FA Cup fourth-round replay between Crystal Palace and Wolves.

An average of 1.1 million viewers, a 4.5% multichannel share, watched between 7.30pm and 10pm, with the audience peaking at 1.5 million and 6.3% in the quarter hour from 9.15pm as Danny Butterfield's incredible six-minute hat-trick gave Palace a 3-1 victory.

A narrative repeat of EastEnders at 10pm on BBC3 also performed strongly, attracting 932,000 viewers and a 4.5% multichannel share.

BBC4's documentary, Storyville: Last White Man Standing, about the killing of a poacher on a white landowner's estate drew 115,000 viewers, a 0.5% multichannel share, in the 9pm hour.

On the main channels, ITV1 was pushed into fourth place in the fiercely contested 9pm hour as Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives drew 2.2 million and a 9% share – down 300,000 and one share point on last week's opener.

The slot was won by BBC1's post-apocalypse drama Survivors, with 3.9 million viewers and a 16% share, while BBC2's science documentary How Earth Made Us continued to do well, with 2.9 million and 12%.

Channel Five also beat ITV1, with ratings banker CSI bringing in a healthy 2.6 million viewers and an 11% share.

Channel 4's fast-turnaround documentary Haiti's Killer Quake: Why It Happened picked up 1.6 million viewers and a 7% share, with another 214,000 on the digital catchup service Channel 4 +1.

ITV1 also struggled in the 8pm hour, drawing just 2.4 million viewers and a 10% share for the last in the six-part run of Cops with Cameras.

This put it behind both BBC1, which drew 5.9 million viewers and a 25% share for Holby City, and BBC2, whose offbeat cookery show The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best attracted 3.3 million and 14%.

Channel 4's 8pm offering, the style show How to Look Good Naked... with a Difference pulled in 1.5 million viewers and a 6% share, with another 178,000 tuning in on Channel 4 +1.

The network's most popular show of the day was Shameless. Although the Channel 4 drama lost 700,000 viewers and three share points on last week's series opener, it still pulled in 2.5 million viewers and a 14% share in the 10pm hour, with another 171,000 on Channel 4 +1.

Earlier in the evening, ITV1 soap Emmerdale won 7.5 million viewers and a 33% share at 7pm, beating BBC1's The One Show, with 5.5 million and 24%.

At 7.30pm, EastEnders gave BBC1 the day's biggest audience – 9.5 million viewers and a 40% share – while ITV1's The Krypton Factor drew 2.7 million and 11%.