Second 'True Blood' brings in 1.4 million

Last night's second instalment of True Blood logged 1.43m (9.3%) for Channel 4, overnight viewing figures show.

The 10pm episode, in which Bill helped heal Sookie with his own blood, was down slightly from last week's decent debut, which drew 1.56m (10.2%).

Earlier on Channel 4, 1.89m (8.1%) tuned in for Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue during the 8pm hour, then The Secret Millionaire put in 2.7m (11.8%) at 9pm.

Over on BBC One, 3.4m (15.6%) watched a repeat of Inspector George Gently at 8pm, and Traffic Cops managed 2.97m (13.1%) during the 9pm hour.

MasterChef: The Professionals, which saw Matt put through to next week's finals, interested 2.73m for BBC Two between 8.15pm and 9pm. Prescott: The North/South Divide followed, bringing in 1.36m (5.9%).

ITV1's live coverage of England's game against Belarus averaged 7.07m (31.3%) between 7.30pm and 10pm.

The 8pm Secrets Of Egypt: Sphinx repeat grabbed 852k (3.7%) for Five, then the audience dropped to 751k (3.3%) during the 9pm edition of Louise Redknapp-fronted Farmer Wants A Wife.

Overall, ITV1's football coverage helped the broadcaster to dominate primetime with an average share of 27.9% to BBC One's 17.3%. Channel 4 was third with 8.3% (+1: 0.9%), followed by BBC Two with 8.2% and Five's 3.5%.

Elsewhere, 206k (1%) tuned in at 8pm for the latest episode of Gossip Girl on ITV2. A repeat screening on timeshift added a further 78k (0.4%).