'Shooting Stars' return draws 2.7 million

The return of Shooting Stars drew 2.72m (13.7%) for BBC Two last night, according to early viewing figures.

The half-hour 10pm show, which featured guests including Christine Bleakley and Paddy McGuiness, failed to top last year's one-off Christmas special - the first new episode of the cult panel show in six years - which pulled in 3.23m (14.8%) on Tuesday, December 30, 2008. Retrospective documentary Shooting Stars: The Inside Story, which aired the same night, put in 2.35m (10.1%).

Earlier on BBC Two, the third episode of Gastronomy Economy grabbed 1.88m (8.7%) during the 8pm hour. The audience then rose to 3.85m (16.9%) during the penultimate episode of Dragons' Den at 9pm.

BBC One's Wildest Dreams had 3.35m (16.6%) at 7.30pm, then 3.58m (15.8%) tuned in for a repeat of The 39 Steps, starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Lydia Leonard.

Location, Location, Location took 2.86m (13.2%) for Channel 4 during the 8pm hour, then 2.09m (9.1%) watched the Big Brother highlights show at 9pm. A sizable 361k (2.2%) tuned in on timeshift.

New Five series Megastructures: Built From Disaster opened to 1.04m (4.8%) during the 8pm hour, then Jean-Claude Van Damme thriller Second In Command interested 1.09m (5.2%) between 9pm and 10.50pm.

ITV1's live coverage of Arsenal's game against Celtic averaged 4.29m (19.9%) between 7.30pm and 10pm.

Overall, ITV1 came top during primetime with an average share of 18.8% to BBC One's 17.7%. BBC two was third with 10.3%, followed by Channel 4 with 8.6% (+1: 1.2%) and Five's 4.6%.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional