New 'Hustle' draws 5.7 million

The return of Hustle for a fifth series was a ratings hit on Thursday night, according to early figures.

The drama, starring Adrian Lester as con artist Mickey Bricks, pulled in 5.71m (23.3%) to help BBC One win the 9pm hour by a margin of around 2 million viewers. The figure is up on the 5.31m (23.9%) who saw the first episode of series four on May 3, 2007.

On ITV1 at the same time, new series Total Emergency - a documentary following emergency services in Sheffield - launched with 3.83m (15.6%).

BBC Two's Victorian Farm, a six-part reality series recreating farming life in 1885, debuted with a strong 2.88m (11.8%). It defeated Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother, which had 2.73m (11.2%) for the hour but picked up a further 278k (1.8%) on Channel 4+1.

Five had 880k (4.5%) for the Clint Eastwood thriller Tightrope between 9pm and 11.20pm.

An hour-long edition of Masterchef brought in a strong 3.58m (14.7%) audience for BBC Two in the 8pm hour, and on Channel 4, 2m (8.2%) browsed the River Cottage Spring Collection. Five put in a decent performance too, attracting 1.73m (7.1%) for Cowboy Builders.

New family comedy Life Of Riley, starring Caroline Quentin, began with a reasonable 5.05m (20.8%) for BBC One at 8pm. It was followed by the first in a new series of The Green Green Grass, with 4.07m (16.5%). ITV1 won the hour overall, however, taking 5.42m (22.2%) for The Bill.

Later in the evening, the second season of dark US drama Dexter premiered to 1.06m (9.2%) on ITV1 at 10.35pm.

EastEnders polled the day's best numbers - 9.42m (39.9%) - at 7.30pm, followed by Emmerdale with 7.34m (32.5%). EastEnders was also the most-watched multichannel programme, with 863k (4.7%) for BBC Three at 10pm.

Hollyoaks drew 1.73m (8.1%) to Channel 4 and 710k (3.6%) to E4 and on Five, Neighbours had 1.26m (7.5%) and Home & Away had 940k (4.7%).

BBC One had an average share of 23.6% in primetime, down from the impressive 33% of New Year's Day. ITV1 rose from 16.9% to 18.7% for second place, while BBC Two was up from 8.6% to 10.7% for third. Channel 4 climbed two points to 7.6% and Five lifted from 3.9% to 4.5%.

The final season of ER premiered with a healthy 652k (3%) for More4 in the 9pm hour, although the subsequent premiere of Brothers & Sisters was less impressive, drawing just 251k (1.5%).

BBC Three's screening of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle Of Life appealed to 689k (3.1%) between 8pm and 9.45pm, and on ITV3, Poirot took 665k (3%) from 8pm.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional