'The X Factor' reaches 12.1m high

The X Factor pulled in its highest audience of the series to date last night (Saturday), early figures suggest.

The latest performances show, which saw the top nine contestants take on the disco genre, averaged a huge 10.94m (43.3%) between 7.30pm and 9.05pm. The peak audience was 12.06m (48%) at 8.15pm.

The show benefited from not going up against Strictly Come Dancing for the first time in weeks. The BBC ballroom show, which began at 6.05pm and finished as The X Factor came on the air, averaged 9.36m (40%) with a peak of 10.5m (41.8%) at 7.20pm.

The X Factor's results show, in which Austin Drage was eliminated, drew 8.67m (38.7%) over 45 minutes from 9.50pm. ITV2's The Xtra Factor was on solid form, with audiences of 832,000 (3.9%) at 9.05pm and 837,000 (5.5%) at 10.35pm.

BBC One drama Merlin held up well, despite being scheduled directly opposite The X Factor at 7.30pm. This week's episode managed 5.75m (22.9%) over 45 minutes, an increase of around 270,000 on last week.

Against Strictly, a repeat of Funniest Ever You've Been Framed! drew a decent 5.12m (22.7%) to ITV1 for the 6pm hour, then Harry Hill's TV Burp interested 5.98m (24.3%). Between the two X Factor shows, All Star Family Fortunes appealed to 6.36m (26.1%).

Post-Merlin, National Lottery show Who Dares Wins had 4.53m (17.9%), then at 9.05pm Casualty pulled in 5.64m (23.2%).

BBC Two had 1.77m (7.1%) for a repeat of Stephen Fry In America from 7.15pm, then a Timewatch special about the final day of World War I interested 2.54m (10.1%). An extended edition of Have I Got News For You followed with 2.52m (10.4%) and at 9.55pm, a screening of the Pacino / De Niro thriller Heat averaged 1.08m (7.3%).

Channel 4 had a dismal night, with an average audience of fewer than 600,000 viewers. A repeat of River Cottage Autumn was the most popular show in its lineup, with 0.82m (3.3%) from 7.05pm. A re-run of Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong had just 0.51m (2%) an hour later, then election-themed movie Recount picked up just 0.46m (2.2%).

Five had audiences of 1.06m (4.2%) and 1.51m (6.2%) for NCIS from 8pm, then CSI brought in 1.39m (6.6%).

ITV1 had a huge 34.3% share during primetime (last week: 34.2%) to BBC One's 23.9% (25.6%). BBC Two was third with 8%, up from 6% last week, and Five dropped slightly from 5.5% to 5.2%. Channel 4 was down from 3.6% to a disastrous 2.4%.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional