New 'Family Guy' pulls in 715,000

Published Tuesday, May 5 2009, 10:54 BST | By Neil Wilkes

A new episode of Family Guy was the most-watched multichannel programme on Sunday night, early figures suggest.

The animated comedy pulled in an impressive 715k (3.7%) for BBC Three at 10pm, beating Sky1's Fringe, which took 348k (1.6%) for the hour.

A shock episode of Lost put in 648k (3%) for Sky1 in the 9pm hour, while on ITV2, Supernatural managed 561k (2.6%) and 132k (0.8%) on timeshift.

E4's new episode of Desperate Housewives delivered 518k (3%) in the 10pm hour.

Elsewhere, a new series of Inspector George Gently began with an impressive 5.87m (25.4%) for BBC One between 8.30pm and 10pm.

It defeated Martin Clunes: Islands of Britain, a new three-part documentary following the actor on a journey around the country's many islands, which had 4.24m (18.2%) for ITV1 in the 9pm hour.

Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire won 1.9m (8.1%) for Channel 4, and on Five, a screening of The Devil's Own picked up 831k (4%).

At 8pm, Heartbeat averaged 4.19m (19.3%) for ITV1, while Channel 4's Come Dine With Me took 2.38m (11%).

BBC Two's continuing snooker coverage averaged 1.9m (9%) over three hours from 8pm.

BBC One had an average share of 24% in primetime, leaving ITV1 in second with 17.6%. BBC Two had 9% for third, followed by Channel 4 with 7.5% (+1: 1%) and Five with 4.7%.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional