'Strictly Come Dancing' ratings overtake 'The X Factor'

For the first time this year, Strictly Come Dancing has comprehensively beaten ITV1's The X Factor in the Saturday night ratings.

Both shows put on a Halloween special, and Strictly added 700k viewers week-on-week for a total average of 10.16m (42.7%). Meanwhile, The X Factor dropped around 180k from last week for 9.59m (38.8%). An extra 313k (1.4%) watched the singing contest on timeshift.

Strictly's ratings boost meant that BBC One edged ITV1 in overall primetime audience share for the first time since this series of The X Factor began.

> Strictly Come Dancing Halloween special - in pictures
> The X Factor Halloween special - in pictures

Elsewhere on BBC One, Merlin conjured 5.9m for a 23.7% audience share and Casualty entertained 4.37m (18.2%) from 9pm.

ITV1's offering of Harry Hill's TV Burp pulled in 4.43m (18.2%), while the return of Piers Morgan's Life Stories opened with a respectable 4.17m (19.6%).

BBC Two kicked off a wartime-themed evening with classic comedy 'Allo, 'Allo!, which tickled 1.33m (5.3%). Dad's Army upped the ratings to 1.96m (7.7%) before the more educational Code-Breakers: Bletchley Park's Lost Heroes took 1.31m (5.4%).

On Channel 4, World War II: The Last Heroes held the attention of 540k (2.1%) from 7.45pm. Jamie's Great Britain did little to improve the broadcaster's fortunes, taking 590k (2.5%) an hour later. A screening of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past fared rather better, with 1.16m (6.2%). The Matthew McConaughey comedy added a further 224k (1.8%) on timeshift.

Clint Eastwood Western A Fistful of Dollars entertained 864k (3.5%) on Channel 5 before the nightly Big Brother showing managed a steady 907k (4.3%).

On the multichannels, ITV3's Foyle's War nabbed 960k (4.5%) from 9pm, while ITV2's The Xtra Factor brought 713k (3.3%) over from the main show.

BBC One won the primetime battle with a 28.8% audience share. ITV1 scored 27.6%, and BBC Two, Channel 5 and Channel 4 were left with 5.8%, 3.4% and 3.3% respectively.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional