American drama Desperate Housewives' second episode drew nearly 5 million viewers and is promising to be a great hit for Channel 4.

Last night's episode enjoyed an average viewership of 4.8 million between 10pm and 11pm, reports the Guardian. This was 200,000 more than the show's launch last week.

The number of people tuning in to Channel 4 was practically double the number of those who chose to watch ITV1's Johnny Vegas sitcom Dead Man Weds. The show drew 2.7m viewers, considerably down on last week.

Housewives also beat BBC1's Paparazzi at 2.5 million but was topped by the 10pm News.