BBC3 crowned ratings Queen

The 60-minute documentary, following the 11-year-old's dream to be the first British girl to take part in a beauty pageant in Texas, saw its audience rise from an initial 507,000 (2.64%) at the start to 722,000 (3.64%) in the final 15-minutes.

The programme was well above BBC3's slot average for the year so far of 483,000 (2.34%). For all of 2007, the channel averaged 282,000 (1.46%) in slot.

The show was also a big hit with both upmarket and younger viewers. ABC1 viewers made up 55.5% of the show's audience, while those in the 16 to 34 age bracket accounted for 38.1% of its viewers.

The show was comfortably the top multichannel offering at the time.

Film 4's comedy drama In Her Shoes appealed to 302,000 (1.94%) for more than two and a half hours. A further 39,000 watched on the movie channel's timeshifted option.

BBC4's programmes featuring actress Liz Smith also managed a reasonable showing. A repeat of the special edition of The Royle Family: the Queen of Sheba entertained 228,000 (1.16%) for an hour which was followed by 343,000 watching I Didn't Know You Cared.

ITV2 also managed to break the 200,000 mark with its film Me, Myself and Irene at 9pm with 222,000.

Further down the field was Five US's Numb3rs at 9pm on 181,000 (0.92%) with a futher 29,000 watching on Five US+1.

Sky One's Night Cops enlisted 133,000 (0.68%).

While Sasha: Beauty Queen at 11 was attracting the viewers, Living was having a much harder time of things with its own beauty-themed show.

Living kicked off a 13-part run of Make Me a Supermodel US with a double helping from 9pm. The initial hour-long show though only drew 87,000 (0.44%), down on the channel's slot average for the year so far of 307,000 (1.49%) by 72%. The second edition of the show at 10pm averaged 38,000 (0.25%).

The shows on Living+1 drew 46,000 and 51,000 respectively.

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