'School Dinners' ends on 5m series high

The concluding part of Jamie's School Dinners pulled in a huge audience for Channel 4 last night (Wednesday), according to overnight ratings figures.

The fourth episode averaged a series high of 4.97 million viewers - a 21.1% share of the available audience - in the 9pm hour, up almost 400,000 on last week. Following on at 10pm was Desperate Housewives, which lost some 250,000 viewers to average a still-impressive 3.4 million (19.1%).

As usual, ITV's primetime lineup took the top four spots, with Coronation Street topping the table with 11.21 million (50.1%). Emmerdale had 9.24 million (44%) for second, while The Bill averaged 6.8 million (29%) in the 8pm hour. Caroline Quentin's Life Begins held a steady 6.49 million (27.5%) in the following hour.

BBC One had a lacklustre night overall, with a top audience of 4.67 million (22.2%) for new family budgeting series Smart Spenders at 7pm. The similarly-veined documentary Whistleblower had just 3.02 million (12.8%) in the 9pm hour.

Football ruled the roost on multichannel, with ITV2's coverage of the UEFA game between Newcastle United and Olympiakos gripping 734,000 (4.8%) between 7pm and 10pm.

BBC Three's movie presentation Under Seige took fourth place, having pulled in 346,000 (2.3%) at 9pm. Sky One's Braniac repeat put in 331,000 (2.1%) in the 8pm hour, while on ITV3, a Parkinson replay drew 158,000 (1%).

Elsewhere, E4's Point Pleasant dropped to a disappointing 67,000 (0.4%) at 9pm.

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com