'Natural Born Sellers' tanks for ITV

ITV1 has a ratings disaster on its hands with a new business-based reality show.

Natural Born Sellers, an Apprentice-style contest in which aspiring businessmen and women undertake weekly sales tasks, began last week with 1.71m (7.8%). This week the audience dropped to 1.58m (7%), down around 57% on the average audience for the slot.

Silent Witness was the clear winner in the 9pm hour, pulling in 6.25m (27.8%) for BBC One. Never Mind The Buzzcocks brought in 2.36m (10.4%) to BBC Two, but at 9.30pm the audience dropped to 1.26m (5.7%) for episode two of new comedy Beautiful People. Channel 4's documentary Ninety Naps A Day, following the lives of three narcoleptics, engaged 1.95m (8.7%) and Five's Extraordinary People: The Little Mermaid had 1.33m (5.9%).

ITV was in the lead at 8pm with The Bill, which pulled in 4.95m (22.3%), just ahead of the 4.86m (21.9%) for BBC One's Big Cat Live. The Restaurant had 2.49m (11.2%) for BBC Two while on Channel 4, The Great Italian Escape and Chateau Monty concluded with 1.27m (5.9%) and 1.21m (5.3%) respectively. On Five, I Own Britain's Best Home and Garden fell to just 0.54m (2.4%).

EastEnders was the day's overall top performer, with 7.96m (38.5%) at 7.30pm. Emmerdale took 6.82m (34.5%) for second.

Overall during primetime, BBC One had a comfortable lead with an average audience share of 26.8% (last week: 21.7%). ITV1 slipped to 15.9% (17.1%), then BBC Two had 8.2% (8.2%), Channel 4 had 6.4% (6%) and Five rounded out at 3.8% (7.5%).

While not quite reaching the 1.3m high of last week, BBC Four had another strong night with train-related programming. Steam Days - a rail journey from Fort William to Mallaig - brought in 635,000 (3.4%) at 8pm, then Railway Walks picked up 779,000 (3.9%). Documentary Between The Lines: Railways In Fiction and Film averaged 639,000 (3.3%) in the 9pm hour.

Elsewhere, it was encouraging news for ITV2's reality show CelebAir, which improved significantly in its new 8pm timeslot to 273,000 (1.4%). Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter followed with 867,000 (4.4%), then Secret Diary Of A Call Girl put in 595,000 (3.6%).

On BBC Three, The World's Strictest Parents was seen by 581,000 (3%) in the 9pm hour, then the audience improved to 730,000 (4.4%) for EastEnders.

Bones put in 491,000 (2.5%) for Sky1 at 9pm and on G.O.L.D., two hour documentary Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga managed 341,000 (2%).

Ratings data supplied by Attentional