Mighty start for Olympics coverage

More than 5 million viewers tuned in for coverage of the first day of the Olympics on Friday.

The opening ceremony, broadcast on BBC One from 12.45pm, averaged a hefty 4.91m over almost five hours, with an average audience share of 51.5%. A peak of 5.4m were watching at 5pm. While impressive, the seven-hour time difference between London and Beijing meant that the audience was significantly down on the 8.6m (41.4%) who watched the opening of the Athens Games four years ago. The comparative peak was 10.7m (50.3%).

A highlights show, broadcast on BBC One in the 7pm hour, drew 3.93m (21.5%). Coronation Street remained the day's top draw, however, with respective audiences of 7.52m (39.8%) and 6.87m (33.5%) for its 7.30pm and 8.30pm instalments. EastEnders had 7.24m (36.5%) at 8pm, while Emmerdale settled for third place with 5.77m (32.9%).

Big Brother ruled the roost at 9pm, with an average of 3.54m (16.9%) tuning in for the latest live eviction show. A further 151,000 watched coverage on Channel 4+1. The Kevin Bishop Show averaged 1.72m (8.8%) at 10pm, a week-on-week fall of 180,000, then 2.78m (17.1%) returned to Big Brother for an interview with evictee Dale Howard between 10.35pm and 11.05pm.

ITV1 entertained 3.32m (16.9%) with a repeat of Agatha Christie's Poirot, guest-starring David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker, between 9pm and 11pm. BBC One had 3.05m (14.9%) for DIY SOS at 8.30pm, then ratings dropped off to 2.74m (13.2%) for panel show Would I Lie To You? at 9pm, before falling further to 2.34m (11.2%) for The Armstrong & Miller Show half an hour later.

On BBC Two, Gardeners' World put in a dependable 1.87m (9.3%) in the 8pm hour, then The Tudors lost a further 400,000 viewers to average 1.88m (9%) at 9pm. QI delivered 1.56m (7.9%) from 10pm. Five continued to struggle with its Superstars revival, with 750,000 (3.7%) at 8pm, but had more success with its US imports. An NCIS repeat was seen by 1.27m (6.1%) at 9pm, then an hour later, a new season of Law & Order: SVU began with 1.4m (7.6%).

ITV2 had a strong night thanks to America's Got Talent, the US reality show featuring Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan, with an average of 532,000 (3%) tuning in betweeen 9pm and 10.20pm. Film4's showing of The Shawshank Redemption drew an average of 436,000 (2.8%) between 9pm and 11.40pm, and on Living, a new episode of Criminal Minds brought in 348,000 (1.9%) from 9pm.

BBC Three had success with an EastEnders repeat - an average of 577,000 (3.4%) at 10pm - and late night Family Guy, with 433,000 (6.7%) from 11.55pm. E4's top audience was 500,000 (3.3%) for first-look Hollyoaks. Big Brother's Big Mouth also performed well, with an average of 429,000 (4.3%) from 11.05pm.