Bardon return boosts 'EastEnders'

The return of John Bardon for a one-off episode gave EastEnders a ratings boost last night (Monday), according to early figures.

The actor was forced to retire from his role as Jim Branning in the soap after suffering a stroke in July 2007 but paid a surprise visit to the Square in last night's episode, shown on BBC One at 8pm. The episode was seen by 8.65m (39.6%) over 30 minutes, a week-on-week rise of 800,000 viewers and enough to place EastEnders above Coronation Street. A further 583,000 (3.2%) watched the later repeat on BBC Three.

Coronation Street settled for second place, with audiences of 8.31m (36.2%) and 8.19m (39.4%) for its 8.30pm and 7.30pm episodes respectively. Emmerdale was third with 6.12m (31.8%) at 7pm.

New Tricks continued to dominate the 9pm hour, drawing a massive 8.38m (34.2%) to BBC One. The figures are on par with last week, when 8.38m (35.7%) tuned in. Dragons' Den also maintained a solid audience, averaging 3.43m (14%) for BBC Two. ITV1's one-off documentary Superhuman: World's Smallest People put in 4.43m (18.1%), a rise on the 3.08m (13.1%) who saw Police, Camera, Action! in the same slot last week.

New series Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan drew 1.34m (5.5%) to Channel 4 in the 9pm hour and on Five, a repeat of countdown show Greatest 80s TV Moments interested just 667,000 (3.1%) between 9pm and 11.05pm.

At 8pm, University Challenge improved by 500,000 to average 2.63m (12.1%) for BBC Two over 30 minutes. The final episode of Chinese Food Made Easy, which followed at 8.30pm, had 1.89m (8.2%). The second episode of Channel 4's The Genius Of Charles Darwin dropped to 1.27m (5.7%) and on Five, a new series of Fifth Gear ensnared 794,000 (3.6%).

Quentin Wilson's investigation into boy racers brought in 2.97m (13.6%) to ITV1's Tonight at 8pm and on BBC One's Panorama, Bill Bryson's complaints about littering interested 4.23m (18.4%).

At 10pm, Channel 4 had 3.15m (16.8%) for Big Brother, picking up an extra 127,000 on Channel 4+1.

Among the multichannels, the first ever episode of Life On Mars was a ratings winner for BBC Four, with an average of 557,000 (3.3%) in the 10pm hour.

Meanwhile, E4's Will Smith movie I, Robot delivered a second night of high ratings for the channel. A showing at 10pm had an average of 282,000 (2.3%), with an additional 236,000 (3.7%) watching on E4+1. On Saturday night the movie delivered audiences of 566,000 (3.5%) and 313,000 (2.7%). E4 also had success last night with US teen drama One Tree Hill, which had 302,000 (1.4%) at 9pm, and first-look Hollyoaks, seen by 534,000 (3.2%) at 7pm.