BBC One wins first 10pm news battle

The BBC's Ten O'Clock News enjoyed a ratings victory over ITV's relaunched News at Ten last night, according to overnight data.

ITV1's Sir Trevor McDonald-fronted bulletin averaged 4.1m viewers between 10pm and 10:25pm, and 3.8m viewers, an 18% share of the audience, over the full 35 minute news block inclusive of regional news programming. 4.9m viewers, 23% of the audience, tuned into BBC One's news output over the same period. The BBC rolled out big stories including an exclusive report by John Simpson from inside Zimbabwe in an effort to best ITN's exclusive interview with former Diana lover Hasnat Khan.

ITV director of television Simon Shaps said: "We are very pleased that the return of News at Ten was watched by over four million viewers last night. This is an increase of over 1.5 million viewers on the average for the previous 10.30pm ITV News bulletin and a marked improvement across the 10.00pm slot.

"The figures for news for news across both ITV and the BBC show there is a substantial appetite for news in the 10 o'clock slot, with a joint audience of nine million viewers in total."

BBC One also came out on top for the 9pm hour, with Motorway Cops averaging 6.3m viewers and a 26% share. New drama The Palace on ITV1 was watched by 4.3m, 18% of the audience.