4.6 million greet Gervais' 'Extras'

An audience of almost 5 million viewers tuned in for the premiere of Extras on Thursday night, according to early ratings data.

The first episode of the Ricky Gervais sitcom drew an average of 4.62 million - a 23.6% share of the audience - to BBC Two between 9pm and 9.30pm.

The show managed to beat all other competition in its slot, ranking ninth place for the day overall. It also managed to provide a strong inheritance for returning comedy The Catherine Tate Show, which had 3.39 million (17%) at 9.30pm.

EastEnders was the day's top-rated programme with 7.79 million (42.4%), narrowly beating ITV1's Emmerdale, which had 7.42 million (42.1%). The Bill took 5.89 million (31%) for third.

Multichannel's top show was Burt Reynolds flick Smokey and the Bandit II, which averaged 484,000 (3.6%) for ITV3 between 9pm and 11pm.

The latest developments on the London bombings ensured huge audiences for BBC News 24, with a peak of 436,000 (5.4%) for the 5pm hour.

Other large performers included BBC Three documentary My Penis And I with 296,000 (2.2%) and 11th place, Sky One's Life and Death in Rome with 266,000 (1.9%) and LivingTV's The Biggest Loser, which had 222,000 (1.6%).