Strong appetite for 'Hairy Bakers'

The Hairy Bakers got off to a strong start for BBC Two last night (Monday) with almost 4 million viewers.

The first episode of the new series, which sees culinary duo Dave Myers and Si King exploring British baking traditions, averaged a hefty 3.73m (15.6%) in the 30 minutes from 8.30pm. The audience is a new personal best for the duo, who previously fronted three series of The Hairy Bikers for the channel, and doubles the 1.89m (8.2%) audience for Chinese Food Made Easy in the same slot last week. It also beat BBC One's offering at the same time, an NHS-themed episode of Panorama, with 3.05m (12.7%).

BBC Two also enjoyed success last night with Dragons' Den. Now halfway through its sixth series, the business-based show drew an average of 3.56m (14.4%) in the 9pm hour, one of its best ever overnight performances. It helped the channel overtake ITV1, where 3.35m (13.6%) watched real-life documentary Superhuman: Genius.

Dominating the 9pm slot was BBC One's New Tricks, however, with a colossal 8.9m (36%) average for the hour. The figure is up more than 500,000 on last week. On Channel 4, Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan - a four-part documentary five years in the making - logged a disappointing 1.09m (4.4%), down from its lacklustre 1.34m (5.5%) debut last week. Five had just 657,000 (3%) with the two-hour clip show Before They Were Stars: Greatest TV Moments.

EastEnders maintained its newly-earned ratings lead over Coronation Street, drawing 9.11m (39.4%) at 8pm. Two episodes of Corrie had audiences of 8.63m (40.2%) and 8.36m (35%) at 7.30pm and 8.30pm respectively, while Emmerdale delivered 6.48m (32.5%) for third place.

ITV1's Tonight investigation into clamping intrigued 3.35m (13.6%) at 8pm and on Channel 4, the final part of Richard Dawkins piece The Genius Of Charles Darwin improved to 1.34m (5.7%). Five's Fifth Gear interested 901,000 (3.8%) while on BBC Two, University Challenge interested 2.64m (11.4%) in the half hour before The Hairy Bakers aired.

Channel 4's relatively poor primetime performance was saved by Big Brother, which had 2.91m (15.9%) in the 10pm hour. A further 105,000 (1.3%) watched on Channel 4+1.

Olympics coverage continued to rate well, with BBC One's 7pm highlights show Games Today reaching a new high of 5.36m (25.9%) in the hour.

Hollyoaks was the biggest multichannel pull, with 580,000 (3.4%) tuning in for the first-look episode on E4 at 7pm.

BBC Three had success with its series one Doctor Who repeat, averaging 416,000 (2.4%) from 7pm, then later with its 10pm EastEnders repeat, on 407,000 (2.2%).

De Niro flick Men Of Honour drew 403,000 (2.3%) from 9pm, while ITV2 movie American Pie entertained 362,000 (1.9%), picking up a further 108,000 (0.8%) on timeshift.

> Click here to read our interview with The Hairy Bakers