Hour-long 'Emmerdale' tops 'EastEnders' again

ITV1 had another comprehensive win in every hour of primetime yesterday (Thursday) thanks to an Emmerdale special and the continuing fifth series of I'm A Celebrity.

An hour-long episode of the Yorkshire-based soap drew an average of 7.89 million (38.8%) in the 7pm hour, knocking EastEnders to a disappointing fifth place for the day with 7.17 million (33.9%).

The first of the evening's episodes of I'm A Celebrity finished first for the day with 8.88 million (38.7%) in the 8pm hour while on BBC One, Bleak House and The Queen's Cavalry put in respective audiences of 4.93 million (21.8%) and 3.76 million (16.1%). BBC Two's Restored to Glory drew 2.02 million (8.8%), topping Gordon Ramsay's F Word on Channel 4, which dropped to an unspectacular 1.68 million (7.3%). Five languished in fifth with 0.76 million (3.3%) for How Not to Decorate.

Doc Martin visited an impressive 8.56 million (36.9%) in the 9pm hour, despite strong competition from Little Britain (6.83 million, 28.9%) and The Worst Week of My Life (3.83 million, 16.8%) on BBC One. C4 movie I'm Going to Tell You a Secret appealed to 1.85 million (9.6%) through 11.20pm while 1.18 million (5.1%) preferred Five's Aircrash Investigations. BBC Two's This World lost out with 0.87 million (3.8%).

The second instalment of I'm A Celebrity had 8.19 million (39.3%) at 10, comfortably ahead of BBC One's news bulletin (3.81 million, 18.3%) and Five's House, MD (1.26 million, 7%).

Sky One had another good night in multichannel homes, meanwhile, led by the apocalyptic drama Supernova, which averaged 500,000 (3.3%) between 9pm and 10.50pm.

ITV2 peaked with 376,000 (3.9%) for spinoff show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - NOW! while sister channel ITV3 hit a high of 398,000 (2.4%) for a Wycliffe repeat in the 8pm hour.

Other strong performers included Living TV's 11pm episode of CSI (311,000, 4.4%), BBC Three's Who Rules the Roost? (296,000, 1.8%) and Hallmark's Law & Order: Criminal Intent (189,000, 1.1%).