'I'm A Celebrity' is king of the ratings

The fifth series of ITV's I'm A Celebrity began with its second strongest premiere ratings ever last night (Sunday).

The show averaged an impressive 9.36 million viewers, a 37.9% audience share, between 9pm and 10.30pm. The figure was good enough for second place for the day behind Coronation Street (11.5 million, 45.4%) and was up on the 9 million who watched last year's premiere. Only the premiere of the third series fared better with a hefty 10.1 million (41.1%) in January 2004.

ITV1 remained ahead in every hour of primetime, beginning at 6.50pm with 7.63 million (32.6%) then steadily rising to 8.5 million (34.2%) for Creature Comforts and 8.96 million (34.1%) for Heartbeat in the 8pm hour. Chris Evans' new series OFI Sunday got off to a promising start at 10.30pm, averaging 3.76 million (22.6%) over 45 minutes.

Rocket Man maintained a steady course for BBC One with 4.4 million (16.7%) in the 8pm hour but was almost topped by BBC Two's Top Gear, which improved significantly to 4.35 million (16.5%). C4's new memorial-themed documentary Not Forgotten began well with 2.27 million (8.6%) while Five interested just 0.92 million (3.5%) with Britain's Worst Builder.

An hour later, BBC One's Egypt suffered at the hands of ITV1's celebrities, tumbling by almost a million to 4.83 million (19%). Channel 4 movie Notting Hill held 2.91 million (13.5%) through 11.20pm although Five's rival flick XXX put in an admirable 1.93 million (9.1%) over the same period. BBC Two had 1.64 million (6.5%) In Search of Speed in the 9pm hour before ratings rose to 2.21 million (9.4%) for Egypt spinoff Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.

On ITV2, X Factor repeats brought in solid audiences of The X Factor (704,000, 3.8%) and 340,000 (1.9%) from 8pm. Later, spinoff show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - NOW! averaged 445,000 (6.8%) and sixth place overall.

As usual, Sky One peaked with The Simpsons, pulling respective audiences of 905,000 (6.3%) and 1.19 million (7.7%) in the 6pm hour. Football Icon continued with a steady 415,000 (2.4%) at 7pm while an hour later, Dream Team lost 100,000 to average 366,000 (2%). Hex dropped to 256,000 (1.4%) at 9, as did Nip/Tuck, which averaged 272,000 (1.8%) in the 10pm hour.

BBC Three also enjoyed a strong night, beginning with 265,000 (1.4%) for The House of Tiny Tearaways at 8pm. A Little Britain repeat had 378,000 (2.3%) at 10pm, providing a strong lead-in for new comedy Man Stroke Woman (297,000, 2.3%).

Other strong performers included E4's Lost repeat (486,000 + 111,000, 2.7%), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Sky Movies (192,000, 1.6%) and Hallmark's Law and Order: Criminal Intent (142,000, 0.8%).