Almost 6 million viewers tuned in for the new series of Wife Swap last night, early ratings figures indicate.

The Channel 4 reality show - which sees two husbands "swap" wives for a fortnight - averaged a mammoth 5.6 million viewers and a 23.5% audience share over an hour from 9pm. The episode peaked at 6.3 million (26.8%) in the final quarter hour, easily beating challenges from both BBC One and ITV1.

The Beeb's They Think It's All Over drew 5.1 million (21.6%), whilst ITV's GoldenEye was shunted into third place with just 4.7 million (20.7%).

A look back at the couples from Wife Swap series one, Wife Swap Changed Our Marriage, managed to hold on to most of the audience with an average of 4.6 million viewers (24.5%) at 10pm.