'Apprentice' scores series high with 9.2m

Last night's episode of The Apprentice scored the biggest audience for the series so far, according to the latest viewing figures.

The penultimate episode of the series, which saw James McQuillan, Lorraine Tighe and Debra Barr all fired by Sir Alan, averaged 9.22m (38.7%) during the 9pm hour. The previous high for the series was the opener, which took 8.11m (33.3%).

The half-hour The Apprentice: You're Fired then took 3.97m (18.5%) for BBC Two at 10pm.

The Apprentice attracted three times as many viewers as its nearest rival, ITV1's Cops With Cameras, which put in 2.97m (12.5%). Embarrassing Bodies was close behind, drawing 2.51m (10.5%) for Channel 4.

BBC Two's Kate Adie Returns To Tiananmen Square grabbed 1.21m (5.1%), and Five came in last place during the hour, pulling in 933k (3.9%) with Extraordinary People: The World's Strongest Toddler.

Earlier, at 8pm, BBC One's The Apprentice: The Final Five, an in-depth look at the profiles of those left in the running, took 4.74m (21.6%), just behind The Bill's 4.82m (22%) for ITV1.

BBC Two's Springwatch was seen by 2.83m (12.9%), River Cottage interested 2.39m (10.9%) for Channel 4, and 625k (2.9%) tuned in for the eighth and final episode of Five's Oil Riggers.

Overall, BBC One came top during primetime with an average share of 25.1% to ITV1's 19.9%. Channel 4 was third with 8.7% (+1: 0.9%), followed by BBC Two with 9.2% and Five's 3.6%.

Elsewhere, the 8pm screening of Gossip Girl put in 173k (0.9%) for ITV2 with a further 25k (0.1%) tuning in on timeshift, and the series two opener of Life managed 205k (1.2%) for ITV3 at 10pm.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional