'Hellboy' movie a hit for Five

A screening of the first Hellboy movie helped Five to its best audience in several months last night (Sunday).

The film - timed to coincide with this week's release of Hellboy II - averaged an impressive 2.85m (11.9%) for the channel between 8pm and 10.15pm, putting Five ahead of BBC Two and Channel 4 throughout much of primetime. At 7pm, a repeat of Rory & Paddy's Great British Adventure, which began last week with 1.24m (5.4%), pulled in 1.22m (5.9%). Later in the evening, Wayans brothers comedy White Chicks had 861,000 (7.5%).

A day of Gold medals for Team GB at the Olympics also meant good news for BBC One, which maintained a comfortable 40-plus share for most of the day. Coverage of rowing and cycling brought in an average of 4.65m (51.6%) between 8.20am and midday, then athletics coverage averaged a sizeable 5.02m (42.6%) until 4.45pm.

In primetime, Olympics highlights show Games Today delivered a healthy 3.98m (19.3%) in the 7pm hour, then new deep sea exploration series Pacific Abyss began with a so-so 3.9m (16.5%). The second episode of Andrew Marr's Britain From Above followed with 4.54m (18.2%), a fall of 600,000 on last week's opener.

ITV1 dominated primetime with its usual drama-laden schedule, starting with 6.44m (31.2%) for Heartbeat, up 400,000 week-on-week. A Midsomer Murders repeat interested 6.6m (27.2%) over two hours from 8pm, a rise of 500,000.

BBC Two began with 1.87m (9%) for a Dragons' Den repeat at 7pm, lifting slightly to 1.91m (8%) for Top Gear an hour later. At 9pm, the final episode of Long Way Round mustered 1.71m (6.9%), then at 10pm, spinoff show Britain From Above appealed to 1.82m (9.1%).

On Channel 4, Wife Swap pulled in 1.83m (7.7%) in the 8pm hour, then Big Brother entertained 2.69m (10.8%) from 9, with an extra 380,000 (2.4%) on Channel 4+1. At 10pm, one-off documentary The Perfect Vagina was admired by 2.18m (12.8%).

Premier League coverage was the top draw on multichannel, meanwhile. Live coverage of Man Utd's home fixture with Newcastle averaged 1.34m (10.6%) for Sky Sports 1 over three hours from 3.30pm, while the earlier game between Chelsea and Portsmouth had 818,000 (8.1%) from 1pm.

Almost half of the audience abandoned BBC Three drama Spooks: Code 9 at 9pm, which averaged a still-decent 447,000 (2.1%) over 50 minutes. Last week the show premiered with a peak of around 900,000 viewers. The channel's earlier screening of the second Tomb Raider movie, The Cradle Of Life, was more popular, drawing 611,000 (3.2%) between 7.10pm and 9pm. Later, a Family Guy double-bill had 323,000 (1.6%) and 464,000 (2.9%) from 9.50pm.

A repeat of Saturday night's The X Factor was a hit for ITV2, with 778,000 (3.8%) in the 8pm hour and an extra 111,000 (0.5%) on ITV2+1. Spinoff show The Xtra Factor had 421,000 (2%) from 9pm, plus an extra 83,000 (0.9%).

Sky One's Gladiators managed 429,000 (2.4%) in the 7pm hour, a fall from 670,000 (3.8%) last week. More4's Come Dine With Me marathon peaked at 6.50pm with 509,000 (3%).