England rugby draws 6.8m for BBC1

Coverage of England's Six Nations defeat of France attracted a strong audience of 6.8m, or a 26% share, for BBC One on Saturday night.

The whole programme including chat and build-up, from 7.50-10pm, averaged 6m viewers. It gave the channel a clear lead for the second half of the evening, although ITV1 dominated earlier.

Harry Hill's TV Burp attracted 4.8m (25%) at 6pm and Primeval gained 5.6m (26%) from 6.30-7.30pm. Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was the most popular of the night with 7m (30%) at 7.30pm.

BBC One led on Friday when a repeat of New Tricks attracted 4.8m (21%) at 9pm. The Choir – Boys Don't Sing on BBC Two drew 3m (13%) at 9.30pm and Five's NCIS pulled 2.5m (11%) in the hour from 9pm.

ITV1 struggled with Moving Wallpaper, on 2.5m (11%) at 9pm, and Echo Beach, taking 2.1m (9%) at 9.30pm.

Channel 4 lost the 9pm hour with Ricky Gervais: New Hero of Comedy, the first in its new series about top contemporary comedians. It only attracted 1.6m (7%).