Peter Kay's 'Pop Factor' draws 6m

A one-off Peter Kay comedy was a huge ratings hit for Channel 4 last night (Sunday), according to early figures.

Britain's Got The Pop Factor and Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice - a spoof of reality TV shows - entertained a huge 5.5m (20.3%) between 8pm and 9.15pm. A further 556,000 (2.5%) watched on Channel 4+1, taking the total audience well over the 6 million mark.

The special helped Channel 4 achieve the rare feat of beating traditional winner ITV1 in the 8pm Sunday slot. Heartbeat was knocked down to 5.32m (19.5%) for the hour.

BBC One had 6.86m (28.9%) for Antiques Roadshow between 7.15pm and 8.15pm, then the Strictly Come Dancing results show - in which ex-EastEnders star Jessie Wallace was given the boot - brought in 7.37m (26.6%) until 9pm.

A new series of A Touch Of Frost helped ITV1 regain the lead at 9pm, with an average of 7.57m (32.8%) tuning in between 9pm and 11pm. BBC One's new travel series Stephen Fry In America still made a decent start, however, pulling in 5.65m (21.9%) for the 9pm hour.

A results episode of The Pop Factor failed to match the heights of its first part, with an albeit still strong 2.96m (15.2%) tuning in at 10.15pm for 45 minutes. Sandwiched between the two halves was Peter Kay tour documentary One Hundred and Eighty, which managed 2.62m (10.5%).

BBC Two had 2.01m (7.4%) for the final episode of Charley Boorman: Ireland To Sydney By Any Means in the 8pm hour, then James May's Big Ideas concluded with 1.85m (7.2%). At 10pm, Alistair Campbell's candid revelations in the documentary Cracking Up could only muster 590,000 (2.9%).

On Five, 579,000 (2.1%) joined Austin Stevens's Adventures: Deadliest Outback Predators in the 8pm hour, then the audience grew to 1.15m (5.5%) for a screening of romantic movie Ghost.

Overall during primetime, ITV1 led with a 25.2% share (last week: 25.7%) to BBC One's 23.1% (25.2%). Channel 4 swelled from 5% to 14.6%, then BBC Two had 5.9% (10.9%) and Five had 4.6% (3.7%).

A screening of Mary Poppins brought in the largest multichannel audience of the day, with 642,000 (3.9%) watching on ITV3 from 5.15pm.

ITV2 had the strongest performance overall thanks to reruns of Saturday night's The X Factor. The first show, broadcast from 5pm, had 556,000 (3.9%) over two hours (+1: 124,000) then the results show pulled in 410,000 (1.7%) from 8pm (+1: 107,000).

See also:
> Friday Ratings: 2.3m interested in 'American Future'
> Saturday Ratings: 'Merlin' ratings rise despite live 'X Factor'

Ratings data supplied by Attentional