ITV's shark night lacks bite

The prospect of seeing Ruby Wax become shark fodder failed to pull in the punters to ITV1 last night, according to early figures.

The broadcaster usually enjoys ratings of at least 7 million viewers through primetime on Sunday, but yesterday managed just over half of that for 'Bite Night', an evening of shark-related programmes.

Documentary Sharks On Trial began well at 8pm, averaging 4.41 million (20.9%) for the hour and pulling ahead of BBC One's The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs, which had 3.81 million (18.1%).

At 9pm, the special Celebrity Shark Bait (3.63 million, 16.4%) dropped behind Waking the Dead (4.36 million, 19.6%). An hour later, a repeat of classic movie Jaws hooked 2.86 million (16.2%).

Topping the ratings chart was Coronation Street with 8.62 million (40.7%), followed by Emmerdale with a disappointing 6.25 million (32.6%).

Over on multichannel, ITV2's repeat of The X Factor packed a punch with 808,000 (5.5%) in the 8pm hour, of which 583,000 (3.7%) stuck around for spinoff show The Xtra Factor.

Elsewhere, the latest Most Haunted Live scored for LivingTV with an impressive average of 463,000 (3.8%) between 9pm and midnight. A further 156,000 (1.3%) watched a simulcast on FTN.

Sky One enjoyed a mediocre evening, with new series Final Chance To Save averaging 210,000 (1.4%) at 8pm and one-off Reality TV Is Good for You interesting 113,000 (0.7%) an hour later.

On MTV, new fly-on-the-wall series Totally Scott-Lee premiered to 84,000 (0.5%) at 9pm but was easily trumped by E4's Lost repeat, seen by 553,000 (3.5%).