Ratings down for latest Oliver show

Jamie Oliver's latest campaigning show for Channel 4 had a lukewarm response last night (Thursday), according to early ratings figures.

The chef would normally command 3 to 4 million viewers per show, but Jamie Saves Our Bacon - a documentary about the pig farming business - averaged just 1.95m (8.7%) between 9pm and 10.35pm last night. Channel 4+1's timeshifted repeat was seen by 193k (1.4%).

Winning the 9pm slot was BBC One's Hustle, which took 5m (20.9%) for the hour. Also popular was a new series of Piers Morgan On... - this week looking at Dubai - with 4.68m (19.6%) for ITV1.

BBC Two welcomed 3.3m (13.8%) to its Victorian Farm and Five had 1.28m (5.4%) for police documentary Soho Blues.

The Bill took 5.03m (21.4%) for ITV1 at 8pm, and on BBC One, comedy Life Of Riley amused 4.06m (17.6%). Only Fools spinoff The Green Green Grass followed with 3.87m (16.2%).

The final MasterChef of the week brought in an impressive 3.87m (16.4%) to BBC Two in the 8pm hour, while Channel 4's A Million Pound Place In The Sun notched up 1.68m (7.2%). Five had 1.61m (6.8%) for Cowboy Builders.

EastEnders drew 8.97m (40.8%) for BBC One and 699k (3.8%) for BBC Three, and Emmerdale delivered 7.27m (34.8%) for ITV1.

Hollyoaks managed 1.49m (7.3%) for Channel 4 at 6.30pm, while on Five, Neighbours had 1.4m (8.8%) and Home & Away had 1.09m (5.7%). E4's first-look Hollyoaks pulled ahead of Fiver's Home & Away preview for the first time all week, averaging 660k (3.6%) to 611k (3.4%) respectively.

BBC One led in primetime with an average share of 23.1% to ITV1's 19.8%. BBC Two was third with 11.1%, followed by Channel 4 on 6.8% (+1: 0.6%) and Five on 4.7%.

Elsewhere, Skins held on to most of its premiere audience, averaging 762k (4.6%) for E4 in the 10pm hour and a further 127k (1.4%) for E4+1.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional