Viewers keen on 'Bad Lads'

Bad Lads Army pulled in more than 5 million viewers last night, according to early figures.

The third episode averaged an impressive 5.08 million and a 24% audience share in the 9pm hour, ranking fourth place for the day overall.

Topping the chart was EastEnders with 8 million (43.5%), followed by Emmerdale with 7.41 million (42.8%) and The Bill with 5.66 million (28.8%).

Elsewhere, Ricky Gervais' Extras was up by 400,000 to 3.76 million (18%) at 9pm, providing a strong lead-in for The Catherine Tate Show, which had 3.45 million (16.2%).

Multichannel's top draw was a first run episode of Big Brother's Little Brother on E4 at 5.30pm, seen by 656,000 (7.7%).

Other highlights included Hallmark's new Law & Order with 303,000 (2.1%) and ITV2 spinoff Bad Lads Army: Privates Exposed with 293,000 (2.1%).