'Glee' returns to record 1.9m audience

Glee returned to E4 after a three-week hiatus last night (Monday) with a record audience, early figures suggest.

The second half of the musical comedy's first season began with 1.6m (6.5%) for E4 in the 9pm hour, with an additional 351k (1.9%) watching an hour later on E4+1.

The previous episode, broadcast on March 29, had been seen by 1.47m (5.8%) on E4 and 434k (2.4%) on timeshift.

Last night, E4 beat BBC Two and was level with Five and parent station Channel 4 in total viewers.

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FlashForward managed 1.62m (6.6%) for Five in the 9pm hour, roughly on par with last week's performance. On Channel 4, new science documentary Blitz Street launched with 1.63m (6.7%).

Winning the hour was ITV1 with the second episode of Joanna Lumley's Nile, which delivered 4.55m (18.6%). New Tricks had 4.03m (16.5%) for BBC One.

Earlier, Countrywise put in 3.6m (15.2%) for ITV1 between 8pm and 8.30pm, then in the second half of the hour, Panorama had 2.83m (11.6%) for BBC One.

Five's The Gadget Show drew 1.32m (5.5%) for the hour; Hidden Houses of Wales and The Hairy Bakers had 1.39m (5.9%) and 1.74m (7.2%) for BBC Two; and on Channel 4, Young, Autistic and Stagestruck managed 604k (2.5%).

ITV1 led primetime overall with an average audience share of 24% to BBC One's 21.3%. BBC Two was third with 5.5%, followed by Channel 4 with 4.7% (+1: 0.7%) and Five with 4%. E4 averaged 2.9% (+1: 0.9%).

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional