'Strictly Come Dancing' final waltzes away with 13m

The final of Strictly Come Dancing peaked at more than 13m viewers last night as BBC One dominated the primetime schedule.

The 7pm episode, which saw the couples perform their show dances, attracted an average of 12.18m (48.2%), with 13.04m (50.7%) tuning in between 7.45pm and 8pm. The second instalment, which saw Mcfly's Harry Judd take home the Mirror Ball trophy, averaged 11.94m (45.8%).

Without competition from The X Factor, Merlin saw a healthy ratings bump to 7.19m (29.7%). In fact, between 7pm and 11pm, there was no occasion on which BBC One was not the most-watched channel.

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On ITV1, a screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took 3.07m (12.5%), along with an extra 315k (1.2%) on timeshift. Westlife: For the Last Time held on to 1.68m (6.5%) at 9pm, and 490k (2.4%) chose to watch an hour later.

Dad's Army summoned 2.15m (8.8%) for BBC Two, before Defiance averaged 1.7m (7.3%) from 9pm.

100 Greatest Toys with Jonathan Ross amused 1.3m (5.2%) Channel 4 viewers from 7pm, and 147k (0.6%) opted to watch the countdown on +1. Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties tickled 1.1m (6.5%) at 10pm, with an additional 163k (1.6%) on timeshift.

A double bill of NCIS on Channel 5 kicked off with 612k (2.4%) at 7.20pm, and the second episode drew 793k (3.3%). The Mentalist lured 530k (2%) at 9.10pm.

BBC One conjured a huge primetime share of 39.2%, with ITV1 left trailing on 9.3%. BBC Two followed with 6.6%, while Channel 4 and Channel 5 had 5.3% and 2.9% respectively.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional