The BBC dropped to its lowest ratings of the year so far last week.

The average audience share for BBC One was down to 23.7% for the week, albeit still ahead of rival ITV1.

The poor performance of music talent series Fame Academy in primetime has been blamed in part for the decline, with last Wednesday's 8pm show garnering an embarrassing 3.2 million viewers and 16% share.

Overall last month, the network averaged a 25.1% share against ITV1's 22.4%.