Sir David 'In Cold Blood' beats 'Palace'

Sir David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood attracted 6.7m viewers last night, higher than any natural history audience in 2007.

The BBC One series opener took a 27.9% share at 9pm to comprehensively beat struggling ITV1 drama The Palace, on a 12.8% share at 3.1m.

The first-of-five Cold Blood improved on the slot average of 5.5m and was the most watched natural history offering since Vet Safari in September 2006, which attracted 6.8m.

Channel 4 followed in the slot with City of Vice at 1.3m or 5.4%, film No Escape made 1.2m, 6.1%, for Five and BBC Two's Paradise or Bust trailed at 1m or 4.3%.

Sky One's Ross Kemp in Afghanistan stayed strong at 1.1m, 5.2% of multichannel homes, roughly double the audience of its strongest competitors at 9pm.