ITV1's 'Murderland' dents 'FlashForward'

FlashForward lost viewers last night after going head-to-head with ITV1's new thriller, overnight viewing figures show.

The opening episode of Robbie Coltrane-fronted Murderland, which tells a dark story through three different perspectives, pulled in an impressive 6.32m (25.9%) for ITV1 during the 9pm hour.

The latest instalment of FlashForward, which stars Sonya Walger, John Cho and Dominic Monaghan, managed 2.67m (10.9%) for Five, down around 520k on last week's strong performance.

Also at 9pm, BBC One's Life drew 4.6m (18.9%), 1.75m (7.2%) tuned in for Channel 4's Age Eight And Wanting A Sex Change, and BBC Two's Design For Life, which aired between 9.15pm and 10.15pm had 850k (3.8%).

Earlier, at 8pm, Dispatches: Ready For A Riot logged 600k (2.4%) for Channel 4, and 1.52m (6.2%) watched The Gadget Show on Five.

University Challenge took 3.54m (14.7%) for BBC Two at 8pm, then 3.33m (13.2%) tuned in at 8.30pm for the first episode in the finals week of MasterChef: The Professionals.

BBC One's half-hour Panorama, which focused on racial abuse, put in 3.3m (13.1%) at 8.30pm, and Health Records For Sale: Tonight attracted 3.08m (12.8%) to ITV1 between 8pm and 8.30pm.

Overall, ITV1 came top during primetime with an average share of 27.4% to BBC One's 21.4%. BBC Two was third with 8.3%, followed by Five's 5.7% and Channel 4 with 4.4% (+1: 0.8%).

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional