Nigella brings Christmas cheer for BBC

BBC Two's new cookery programme featuring Nigella Lawson produced a bit of early Christmas cheer for the corporation, serving up 3.4 million viewers for its first episode at 8pm last night.

Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, which saw Lawson rustling up Christmas grub, saw its audience growing over the 30-minute slot to 3.5 million and a 15.5% share in the final 15 minutes.

Hanging on to the food and drink audience, Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure did well with 2.6 million and a 11.7% share in the 8.30pm slot, an increase of 200,000 on it performance last week.

Channel 4's Ten Years Younger Christmas Special managed 2.2 million and a 9.7% share in a 60-minute slot at the same time.

Over on Five, Asbo Teen to Beauty Queen at 8pm, only achieved 527,000 viewers and a 2.3% share.

But it was BBC's and ITV's cop shows that won last night. BBC One's real life Traffic Cops pulled in 4.6 million and ITV1's drama The Bill was triumphant with 5.4 million and a 24.1% share over an hour.

ITV1's broadcast of the terrestrial premiere of Richard Curtis' Love Actually at 9pm, peaked at 6 million in the first half, with a 27.8% share, but lost viewers in the post-news second part shown at 11pm, dropping to 3.9 million but with a higher share of 37.6%. The film averaged a 5.1 million audience and a 30% share overall.