New 'Skins' pulls in 833,000

Over 800,000 viewers tuned in for the new series of Skins on Thursday night, according to early figures.

The third series of the teen drama, which introduced an almost entirely new cast, averaged 665k (4.1%) for E4 in the 10pm hour, picking up an additional 169k (1.9%) on E4+1.

The figures are down around a third on the premiere of series two, which managed 1.06m (6.7%) and 237k (2.9%) on February 11, 2008.

The first series premiered to 1.48m (9.7%) and 301k (3.7%) on January 25, 2007.

Other popular multichannel programmes on Thursday night included More4's ER, with 558k (2.6%) in the 9pm hour, and ITV2's American Idol, which drew 507k (2.4%) from 8pm.

EastEnders drew the biggest audience of the day on any channel, with 8.82m (39.6%) for BBC One at 7.30pm. A further 786k (4.4%) watched on BBC Three at 10pm. Emmerdale notched up a reasonable 6.97m (32.7%) for ITV1.

Hollyoaks picked up 1.9m (9.3%) for Channel 4 and on Five, Neighbours had 1.62m (10.1%) and Home & Away had 1.11m (5.8%).

Fiver's first-look Home & Away managed 663k (3.7%) at 6.30pm, outrating the 585k (3.1%) for E4's Hollyoaks.

A Dispatches investigation into the manufacture of cheap food products brought in Channel 4's top numbers of the day, with 3.05m (12.8%) watching in the 8pm hour. The programme outrated Celebrity Big Brother, which followed at 9pm with 2.67m (11.1%).

Caroline Quentin comedy Life Of Riley had 4.11m (17.6%) at 8pm, a slide of around 600k week-on-week. The Green Green Grass took 3.86m (15.8%) at 8.30pm, then Hustle improved 200k to 5.62m (23.4%).

The Bill claimed 4.95m (20.7%) for ITV1 in the 8pm hour, then real-life police documentary Total Emergency appealed to 3.35m (14%).

The latest MasterChef delivered a healthy 3.75m (15.6%) for BBC Two, then a new episode of Victorian Farm interested 3.34m (14%).

On Five, Cowboy Builders averaged 1.5m (6.2%), then epic Western Wyatt Earp kept 942k (6.5%) until 12.50am.

BBC One was down one point on last week in primetime but stayed in first place with an average share of 23.6%. ITV1 was roughly level at 17.4%, followed by BBC Two on 11.2% and Channel 4 on 9.4%. Five took last place with a share of 4.7%.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional