7.1m see The Stig revealed on 'Top Gear'

The new series of Top Gear got off to a strong start last night, according to early ratings figures.

The opening episode, during which Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was revealed as The Stig, was seen by an impressive 7.1m (30.4%), putting BBC Two in first place during the 8pm timeslot.

Hope Springs, BBC One's Alex Kingston-fronted drama series, was down almost 1 million viewers on last week's performance, attracting just 3.19m (13.8%).

The third and final part of Stephen Tompkinson's African Balloon Adventure put in 3.06m (13.2%) for ITV1, Channel 4's Wife Swap logged 1.73m (7.5%), and 627k (2.7%) tuned in for Five's new series Among The Apes.

Stephen Fry's Kingdom led the 9pm hour, putting in 4.57m (19.6%) for ITV1. Its nearest rival, BBC Two documentary James May On The Moon, had 3.19m (13.8%) after a strong Top Gear lead in, and Casualty 1909 pulled in 3.11m (13.4%) for BBC One.

Big Brother grabbed 1.99m (8.5%) during the 9pm hour, while Five's Vin Diesel action-thriller xXx averaged 1.34m (7%) between 9pm and 11.15pm.

Overall, ITV1 came top during primetime with an average share of 16.2%, just ahead of BBC One's 16.1%. BBC Two was third with 15.8%, followed by Channel 4 with 7.4% (+1: 1%) and Five's 5.6%.

Elsewhere, 476k (2.2%) watched Supernatural's season four finale on ITV2 at 9pm, down from an average of 537k over the season's 22-episode run. It was beaten by Sky1's House, which took 577k (2.7%).

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional