McCartney fired as 'Apprentice' gains

The Apprentice showed no signs of slowing last night (Wednesday), with a peak of more than 5 million viewers tuning in to watch Sir Alan's latest firing.

Overall, the show averaged an impressive 4.5 million viewers - a 19.3% audience share - for BBC Two in the 9pm hour, reaching its peak of 5.07m (21.7%) in the final ten minutes. Only ITV1 finished ahead in the time period, attracting an average of 5m (22.1%) to Murder City between 9pm and 10.30pm. Channel 4 put up an admirable 3.9m (16.7%) with Grand Designs while BBC One languished on an embarrassing 1.78m (7.6%) for documentary The McCartneys vs The Fur Trade.

Coronation Street took first for the day with 9.81m (47.4%) at 7.30pm, followed by Emmerdale with 7.87m (42.3%) and The Bill with 5.95m (27%). BBC One was second in the 8pm hour with Seaside Rescue (3.65m, 16.9%) and Super Vets (3.55m, 15.7%), while Channel 4's Selling Houses appealed to 2.6m (11.8%). BBC Two was fourth with The Hairy Bikers' Cook Book (1.49m, 6.9%) and Eating With (1.51m, 6.7%), leaving Five a distant fifth with just 0.83m (3.8%) for repeat documentary Catherine Zeta Jones' Secrets.

Desperate Housewives had 2.48m (13.7%) for C4 at 10pm, marginally ahead of BBC Two spinoff The Apprentice - You're Fired (2.4m, 11.4%).

Once again movies helped draw the numbers to the multichannels, led by ITV2's showing of Crocodile Dundee, which averaged 593,000 between 9pm and 11pm.

BBC Three attracted 485,000 with its showing of disaster movie Deep Impact at 10pm, backed by decent numbers earlier in the evening for The Real Hustle (200,000) and Honey We're Killing The Kids (188,000).

Sky One had a largely uneventful night, beginning with 142,000 for Stargate Atlantis and then dropping to 131,000 for Matt Dillon flick In & Out. E4 took 191,000 for an Invasion repeat in the 9pm hour before falling to 108,000 for Chantelle's Dream Dates at 10. A first-look Desperate Housewives appealed to 296,000 at 11pm.