Homeland 2.2m (peak 2.5m) inc +1.

JohnWilliams Twitter

Good start. Should timeshift well too.

UD was a bit past its core viewers' bedtime.

Surprised and delighted by that rating, I think it's a cracking good show, hope it holds up well.

Right decision to move CTM, ITV's tactics backfired.

UD was bang on what it got in the overnights last time out. It could.still make 8m on timeshift.

Great start for Homeland. That probably dented UD a bit. (EDIT: it includes the repeat, but is clearly well up on my.c1m prediction)

Excellent start and well deserved.

Finally, let's hope the media stops all the Downton Abbey v Upstairs Downstairs rivalry articles. Recently, they've been treating UD as if it's a massive blockbuster show but the ratings speak for themselves. Time the media now stop comparing the two shows directly all the time, its like comparing EastEnders to Holby City, theres a big gulf in popularity between them and they're actually rather different anyway.

8.6m for Corrie. They might want to bring it back to Sundays permanently!

Corrie did really well. Unusual for it to do that well on a random Sunday. Maybe DOI made gains?

The 10.30 finish meant UD lost 1m viewers over the hour. But still the right scheduling response by the BBC to ITV's shameless, and cackhanded, wrecking tactics.

Exactly. Why the media have to compare everything is beyond me. Why can't they co-exist together without it turning in a fight where one show has to beat down another. If DA didn't exist the rating for UD would be seen as good by most, but now it will be considered a flop when it clearly isn't.

UD would have had an average of 7 million had it not been for the late start.

CTM has more than stolen the thunder of Downton if comparisons were to be made. Its series average is better than what both of the Downton Abbey series got.

But then CTM wouldn't have got 9m+. It wasn't possible for the BBC to have it all their own way last night with Corrie in the equation.

Homeland 2.2m (peak 2.5m) inc +1.
Shame it's so low. C4 hyped it pretty well, and Claire Daines getting the Golden Glove should've helped more than that.

UD is more drama than DA which of course is more soapy. They are similar shows due to the plot nature ie masters and servants. Hopefully UD timeshifts to 8m or so, classy drama and well written. Very decent rating for CTM, next week UD has AR as a lead-in, but it is back to the viewer friendly 9pm timeslot.

Good rating for Homeland, will have to check it out on catch-up this week.

Moving CTM was the right call. It might have beaten Corrie but wouldn't have gotten 9m. I think that Corrie helped provide a lead in to CTM myself.

Also Midwife's average is ahead of series 1 Downton, but series 2 is still the top drama performer of the last few years.

In the circumstances I think it did very well. Sunday 9.30pm opposite DOI result and the series premiere of a much hyped BBC drama was far from ideal.

And series 1 of Downton is skewed by not being shown in Scotland (unlike Call the Midwife). Of course both are exception audiences - but not strictly a like-for-like comparison (blame STV and it's crazy programming policy for that!).

Excellent rating for CTM to get a series high after being pushed back half an hour compared to usual, BBC One needed a massive new drama series hit to come through this year, and boy have they got it. Upstairs Downstairs did alright but even though it's being moved earlier to 9pm next week, I think it will be down in 7 days' time as it won't have a 9m+ lead-in and I suspect it'll experience the usual 2nd episode drop most dramas do.

'Downton Abbey' Official Series Averages
Series 1 (2010)... 9.70m (no STV)
Series 2 (2011)... 11.24m

'Call The Midwife' Official Series Average
Series 1 (2012): 10.46m*

* set to change with 2 more officials still left. Will probably end up with 10.6m.

So CTM series one rated higher than DA series one, although DA's figure is based on fact it wasn't shown in Scotland (it probably would've ended up with almost identical average as CTM if STV had). Series two of DA, which was fully networked, is going to end up being about ~0.6m higher than CTM.

Sunday 19th February Overnights
BBC One
13:00- EastEnders Omnibus: 907k (8.1%)
19:30- Antiques Roadshow: 6.78m (24.7%)
20:30- Call The Midwife: 9.24m (32.1%)
21:30- Upstairs Downstairs: 6.53m (27%)

BBC Two
20:00- Top Gear: 3.9m (13.4%) exc HD
21:00- Swimming with Crocodiles: 1.72m (6.4%)

ITV1
18:05- Dancing on Ice: 6.8m (28%) , +1: 189k (0.7%)
20:00- Coronation Street: 8.27m (28.7%) , +1: 295k (1.1%)
20:30- Wild at Heart: 5.74m (19.9%) , +1: 347k (1.4%)
21:30- Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off: 5.61m (22%) , +1: 303k (1.9%)

Channel 4
09:25- Hollyoaks Omnibus: 200k (2.4%)
20:00- The Hotel: 1.47m (5.1%) , +1: 178k (0.7%)
21:00- Homeland: 1.96m (8.2%) , +1: 302k (2.2%)

Channel 5
21:00- Death Race: 1.18m (5.1%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 27.1%
ITV1: 22.4% (+1: 1%)
BBC Two: 7.8%
Channel 4: 5.4% (+1: 0.9%)
Channel 5: 3.8%

Ratings include HD (unless stated) and are tape-checked where necessary

Multichannel
BBC Three
21:00- Being Human: 659k (2.4%) inc HD

ESPN
Liverpool v Brighton: 687k

ITV2
22:00- The Only Way Is Essex: 1.03m (4.9%) , +1: 112k (1.1%)

Sky 1
18:00- Got to Dance: 724k (3.1%)
19:30- Secret Street Crew: 596k

Source: DS (1) (2)

Not hard to see why they might want rid of that then.

Sunday Brunch could triple or even quadruple the slot average.

TG probably the big loser last night, squeezed by two c9m rated shows. But it will still end up c6m I expect.

Inevitably poor for WAH and DOIR. Be interesting to see if both rally now next week.

Do we have a rating for last night's Countryfile?

I find it very hard to believe DA would have averaged 10.5m for series 1, even with STV added. Bear in mind the south of Scotland gets Border, which did show it.

STV usually adds about +8% to the 'rest-of-the-UK' audience. This is based on looking at timeshifts and data for lots of other dramas which have had certain episodes shown on STV and other episodes not shown on STV.

For example, an episode of Midsomer Murders last year which was shown in Scotland timeshifted +18% over the overnight figure, whilst another episode of MM shown just a few weeks later not shown in Scotland timeshifted +10%. This +8% STV factor is generally seen throughout other shows too (obviously though sometimes it might be +7% or other times about +9%).

So yep, I would say if DA series one had been shown on STV, it would've got c10.5m officially nationwide, if not slightly more or less.

5.7m for Countryfile.