Johnny Carson will forever be The King of Late Night. In his last US TV appearance, on the rival Letterman programme, he stops the show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9i6A6LGwa4

Overnights.tv ‏@overnightstv now9 seconds ago
ITV's new drama #TheDurrells made a strong start with slot-winning 6.4m/29% at 8pm @Misskeeleyhawes @sidgentlefilms http://www.overnights.tv

What's that? ITV have a hit on their hands?! Excellent rating and a very good start for it.

@robinparker55: Sunday night 9pm dramas: Undercover: 5.25m; Home Fires: 5,16m; Indian Summers: 0.75m. ITV's The Durrells won the night with 6.4m at 8pm

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Excellent start for The Durrells. It could have got 2 or 3 million less than that and I wouldn't have been surprised. That's a great rating. Good numbers for Undercovers and Home Fires too, good to see that dramas can still play well against each other. Home Fires was around the same as last year's first episode against much weaker competition so they'll be happy with that. Dire as ever for Indian Summers.

Overnights.tv ‏@overnightstv now15 seconds ago
Drama #homefires returned for 2nd series with 5.2m/23.7% from 9pm on ITV @itvstudios http://www.overnights.tv

Ooh, a good night for ITV with both dramas.

Overnights.tv ‏@overnightstv now7 seconds ago
New BBC drama #undercover began well with slot-winning 5.3m/24.1% @AdrianLester http://www.overnights.tv

What's the breakdown for Undercover? How many switched off as the old fella got his arse wiped?

Jenny Cummins is saying The Durrells was the biggest show of the day, so Countryfile must have been below 6.4m.

6.32m (32.5%)

Does that Durrells figure exclude +1?

Antiques Roadshow: 5.25m (23.8%)

Does this mean we can finally stop talking about a default BBC1 audience on Sunday, Antiques Roadshow being a ratings giant, ITV not being able to do well on Sunday without soaps and a drama with two black leads won't get a lot of viewers at the start?

Very strong number still. A bit lower than it has been but still very good. Antiques Roadshow held up well too.

Any idea how Celeb Chase did Ray?

Undercover got off to a healthy start but it will almost certainly fall to the 4m bracket next Sunday, if the mixed reactions to the opening episode are anything to go by.

2.56m EXCLUDING HD / excluding +1
Last week: 2.28m excluding HD/excluding +1

America loved Carson but he was never rivals with Letterman as Carson helped Letterman get started in late night. Carson always saw Letterman as his heir apparent for The Tonight Show but NBC went with Jay Leno. Carson never appeared on The Tonight Show with Leno but always did appearances on Late Show with Letterman which was the rival to Leno's Tonight Show

I've no doubt it will but people did try it for the first episode. The British public aren't all as bigoted as some might think. Luther and Death In Paradise with a mainly black cast manage to get viewers.

Colour me surprised at The Durrells ratings, nothing about that show looked like it would get above 4 million. I shouldn't underestimate the power of Keeley Hawes I suppose.

Undercover did well, I wonder if it's tapped in the audience that got hooked on The Night Manager. While not a spy drama like that, there is some slight overlap between the two.

FWIW this is the 15 min breakdown

5561
5295
5064
5066

by comparison Home Fires went like this
ITV
4362
4273
4140
4109
ITV HD
679
646
586
593

So it's not like the audience switch from BBC One to ITV.

Maybe people just had to got to bed?

I didn't suggest that for one second! God forbid if they were. I wasn't the poster who made that point.

I was basing my point purely on the quality / reception to the first episode.

The Secret History of My Family (7pm): 0.80m (4.1%)
Natural Born Winners: 0.68m (3.1%)
Tribes, Predators and Me: 1.51m (6.9%)

Great Canal Journeys: 1.06m (4.8%)
Now That's Funny!: 0.73m (3.3%)
Penn and Teller: Fool Us in Vegas: 0.66m (3.0%)
excluding +1

Ah yes spring has arrived and the clocks have changed and we won't see another 7m countryfile rating until October, its one of the natural rhythms of the TV year.

This proves another thing I've often said.

Antiques Roadshow is a solid performer that doesn't usually collapse opposite strong competition. You don't have to be number one but you can be a competitive number two. That's ITV's problem. BBC1 have some programmes that won't crash to low numbers against strong ITV shows, whereas some ITV shows aren't as robust.

I know Jay, I was just making a point in general about what was said a few posts back. This wasn't referring to anything you said.

C4F1 live coverage of BahrainGP was watched by an avg of 2.3m & peaked at 3.2m viewers making it the most watched channel over the slot. This compared to an average of 605k viewers watching on pay TV.
Channel 4 Press@C4Press

Due to having to retune my Freeview box this morning I see with interest BBC3 has finally gone completely from the EPG, until now if that telling you to go online and showing repeats in the middle of the night, now all gone.