'New Tricks' back with 7 million

The return of New Tricks was met with an impressive reception in the ratings last night (Monday), according to early overnights.

The third series of the detective drama began with a weighty 7.18 million viewers - a 28.4% share of the TV audience - for BBC One in the 9pm hour. It easily saw off the concluding part of ITV1 drama The Incredible Journey Of Mary Bryant, which dropped from Sunday's 6.29m to an average of 5.86m (25.6%) between 9pm and 11pm.

Coronation Street ranked as the day's top programme, drawing respective audiences of 10.29m (44.8%) and 10.83m (42.2%) for its 7.30pm and 8.30pm episodes. EastEnders had 10.11m (41.9%) at 8pm, against 4.33m (18%) for ITV1's Airline repeat. Emmerdale took 7.84m (38.3%) for fourth.

Channel 4 enjoyed a strong night, beginning slowly with 1.57m (6.5%) for its presentation of kids movie Cats and Dogs at 7.30pm. A Peter Kay-themed lineup of programming delivered the goods from 9, however, averaging an impressive 2.9m (12.7%) through 11pm.

BBC Two had a reliable 2.73m (10.6%) with University Challenge at 8.30pm before viewers switched away from its comedy lineup of Never Mind The Buzzcocks (1.69m, 6.7%), Man Stroke Woman (0.9m, 3.6%) and The Office (0.96m, 4.3%). Five peaked with 1.24m (6%) for US import Prison Break at 10pm.

BBC Three had another good showing in multichannel homes thanks to its movie presentation of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, ensnaring 632,000 between 8.30pm and 10pm.

ITV2's movie repeat Tango and Cash had 438,000 between 9 and 11 while on Sky One, the special Curse Of King Tut averaged 427,000. E4's new Smallville had 286,000 in the 9pm hour, with an additional 64,000 on timeshift.

Elsewhere, the start of the new Bullseye series got off to a middling start on Challenge, drawing 146,000 at 10pm.