Slow start for 'Junior Apprentice'

The new version of The Apprentice for young entrepreneurs opened on Wednesday to disappointing viewing figures for BBC One.

Only 4.03m (16.2%) tuned in to watch 16-year-old Jordan De Courcy become the first candidate to be fired on Junior Apprentice in the 9pm hour on BBC One.

The show's opening ratings were well down on last year's adult version of The Apprentice and also lower than the peak audience gained by BBC Two spinoff show The Apprentice - You're Fired.

Junior Apprentice further failed to eclipse the 4.28m (18.5%) pulled in by Waterloo Road for BBC One in the 8pm hour, or the 4.98m (20.7%) that Midsomer Murders averaged for ITV1 from 8pm to 10pm.

Five's live coverage of Fulham's heartbreaking loss in the Europa League final attracted an impressive 3.29m (14.9%) from 6.30pm to 10.45pm.

On Channel 4, B&B reality series Three In A Bed pulled in 1.59m (6.9%) in the 8pm hour and 151k (0.6%) on timeshift, followed by Jamie Does - The French Pyrenees, with 1.61m (6.5%) and 230k (1.2%) on timeshift.

Monty Halls's Great Hebridean Escape averaged 1.31m (5.3%) for BBC Two in the 9pm hour, preceded by The Edible Garden and Cracking Antiques with 1.18m (5.2%) and 1.11m (4.7%) respectively.

BBC One gained a slight victory in primetime with 20.9% over ITV1's 18.2% and Five's admirable 15.7%. Channel 4 came in fourth with 5.9%, followed by BBC Two with 5.6%.

Elsewhere, the second two episodes of Chris Ryan's Strike Back gained 337k (1.4%) and 294k (1.5%) for Sky1 from 9pm, down on last week's average of 398k (1.7%) for the new series.

American Idol appealed to 393k (1.6%) for ITV2 in the 9pm hour and 104k (0.5%) on timeshift.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional