12.4 million see 'X Factor' top 12 unveiled

Published Monday, Oct 5 2009, 16:03 BST | By Neil Wilkes

12.4 million see 'X Factor' top 12 unveiled

Lucie Jones

The X Factor grew to its highest audience of the series to date last night (Sunday) as the identities of the final 12 contestants were revealed.

The culmination of the judges' houses phase of the competition was seen by 12.38m (44.9%) in the 8pm hour. The figure represents an increase of over 2m night-on-night and is up almost 3m on the equivalent episode from last year's run.

Last night the audience peaked with 13.86m (47.7%) at 8.50pm.

At 9pm, the third episode in the new series of Doc Martin pulled in 8.15m (31.6%), a week-on-week growth of around 1m.

BBC One's Antiques Roadshow mustered a not-unreasonable 5.16m (18.7%) opposite The X Factor at 8pm, then an hour later, a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma opened to 4.38m (17%).

Stephen Fry's Last Chance To See, this week featuring a flightless parrot from New Zealand, had 2.15m (7.8%) for BBC Two at 8pm, then Charley Boorman: Sydney To Tokyo By Any Means appealed to 1.92m (7.5%). Match of the Day 2 followed with 2.81m (17.4%) between 10pm and 11.10pm.

Come Dine With Me brought in 1.41m (5.1%) to Channel 4 at 8pm, with a further 473k (1.9%) on timeshift, then Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour was seen by 1.08m (4.2%).

Five's screening of Monsters, Inc had an impressive 2.57m (12%) between 6.15pm and 8.05pm, then Man-Eating Leopards: Austin Stevens's Adventures kept 588k (2.1%). A screening of spy thriller xXx: The Next Level appealed to 1.22m (5.6%) from 9pm.

Overall, ITV1 averaged 29.7% in primetime, while BBC One lagged with 19.1%. BBC Two was third with 9.1%, followed by Five with 6.3% and Channel 4 with 4.5% (+1: 0.9%).

The latest episode of The Xtra Factor put in 1.18m (4.9%) for ITV2 in the 9pm hour, with 114k (0.7%) on timeshift, then the third episode of Trinity managed 508k (3.2%).

Sky1's premiere of the new season of House logged 723k (3%) at 9pm, a growth of around 175k on last week's season five finale. The second season premiere of Fringe followed at 10pm with 431k (2.7%).

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional