Ratings Roundup: 'Fame Academy' rules Thursday

The penultimate night of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy proved a tempting prospect for viewers on Thursday night.

The first episode, shown at 8pm, pulled in an average of 7.91 million viewers and a 33.4% audience share. The subsequent results show managed 7.05 million (31.2%) at 9.30pm.

ITV1's competing lineup of The Bill and Fat Friends suffered as a result, dropping to 5.53 million (23.3%) and 5.2 million (23%) respectively.

Top show of the night was BBC One's EastEnders, with 11.54 million (51.6%) at 7.30pm. ITV1's Emmerdale took second for ITV1 with an average of 9.73 million (47.4%).

Five's UEFA coverage of the game between Middlesbrough and Sporting Lisbon drew 1.92 million (8.5%) from 8pm while on Channel 4, documentary Immigration Is a Time Bomb averaged 1.45 million (6.5%).

Over on multichannel, top draw was BBC Three's Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, which hit a series high of 840,000 (6.2%) at 10pm. The earlier 9pm show had 558,000 (3.6%) for fourth place, and the subsequent 11pm airing put in 344,000 (4.6%) for eighth.

E4's new episode of ER averaged a weighty 490,000 (3.2%) in the 9pm hour, with a further 164,000 (1.5%) tuning in for the timeshifted repeat.

ITV2's movie presentation of Waking Ned pulled in 300,000 (2%) between 8pm and 10pm, while on E4 at 10pm, the climax of Fool Around With... Jodie Marsh interested 116,000 (1%).

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com