New 'Flashmob' flops for BBC Three

An all-new instalment of BBC Three's acclaimed Flashmob: The Opera flopped in the ratings on Thursday night, according to early figures.

The episode, broadcast live from a shopping centre in Sheffield, attracted just 123,000 viewers - a 0.8% share of the multichannel audience - in the 8pm hour. A 10.30pm repeat added only 94,000 (1%).

In the same slot, Hallmark's The District picked up 133,000 (0.9%) while Sky One's new episode of Las Vegas had 210,000 (1.4%). E4's repeat of the final Friends episode drew 222,000 (1.4%) and on LivingTV, a new episode of Charmed spooked an impressive 492,000 (3.2%).

The real success story of the night was ITV2's UEFA Cup coverage of the game between Newcastle United and Sporting Lisbon. An average of 1.54 million (10.2%) tuned in between 7pm and 10pm, peaking at 2.3 million - a footballing record for the channel.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, EastEnders finished first place amongst the terrestrials with an average of 10.08 million viewers (46%) at 7.30pm. ITV1's soap-and-drama lineup also fared well, with Emmerdale, The Bill and Footballers' Wives pulling in audiences of 8.49 million (42.1%), 5.74 million (24.4%) and 5.97 million (25.9%) at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm respectively.

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com