BBC's 'Monsters' topped by ITV's coppers

BBC One's new natural history series Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs got off to a mediocre, if unremarkable, start in the ratings on Wednesday night.

The much-publicised show, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, averaged 4.47 million viewers - a 19.6% audience share - between 8.30pm and 9pm, according to early figures. It was topped by ITV1's The Bill, which put in 6.45 million (28.7%) across the hour.

Despite the loss of I'm A Celebrity, ITV1 still managed a healthy win in prime, led at 7pm by Emmerdale with 8.61 million (44.5%). Doc Martin had 8.14 million (34.8%) in the 9pm hour while a Tommy Cooper tribute brought in 4.26 million (23.4%) to Must See TV at 10.

EastEnders topped the chart for BBC One, averaging 9.85 million (48.1%) from 7.30pm. Bleak House improved by almost half a million to 5.39 million (24.3%) half an hour later then at 9, a new Little Britain delivered 6.64 million (28%). Once again, The Worst Week of My Life failed to capitalise on its strong lead-in, dropping to 3.6 million (15.6%) at 9.30pm.

Gordon Ramsay's F Word improved significantly for Channel 4 in the 8pm hour, averaging 2.52 million (11.2%) versus 1.68 million (7.3%) the week before. BBC Two's Restored to Glory had 2.14 million (9.5%) while Five was bottom of the pack with 1 million (4.5%) for How Not to Decorate.

Channel 4 kept its lead in the 9pm hour with Space Cadets, despite dropping off to 2.47 million (10.5%). Five improved to 1.33 million (5.7%) for Air Crash Investigation, ahead of BBC Two's 1.19 million (5.1%) for Russian Godfathers.

The heavily-trailed C4 documentary I Killed John Lennon interested 1.78 million (10.4%) at 10pm, marginally more than the strong debut of new Five import Killer Instinct (1.75 million, 9.9%).

A strong night in multichannel homes saw Sky One come out on top with documentary Secret Life of Suburbia (230,000, 1.5%) and the conclusion of apolcalyptic thriller Supernova (477,000, 3.2%).

ITV3 peaked with 406,000 (2.6%) for Wycliffe at 8pm, slightly ahead of BBC Three's The House of Tiny Tearaways (349,000, 2.2%).

ITV2 had a largely disappointing night, meanwhile, achieving a high of just 217,000 (1.5%) for the movie premiere of Blue Crush.