Fringe benefits Sky 1

The 105-minute opening episode managed to hit a peak of 320,000 (1.73%) at 10pm. A further 79,000 watched the show using Sky's multistart option, giving the show a total audience of 371,000 (3.38%) in Sky homes.

Fringe managed to outperform most of Sky 1's nearest entertainment rivals. BBC3's repeat of Gavin & Stacey amused 260,000 (1.16%) at 9pm, followed by Massive at 9.30pm on just 102,000 (0.47%). E4's Desperate Housewives at 9pm drew 157,000 (0.71%) with a further 71,000 watching on E4+1.

Katie & Peter/Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Two of ITV's multichannel offerings comfortably broke the half a million mark at the time.

A re-run of ITV2's Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter at 9pm drew 575,000 (2.61%) - and further 87,000 on ITV2+1 - which was followed by Secret Diary of a Call Girl at 10pm on 445,000 (2.55%). ITV3's Poirot at 8pm had a strong 563,000 (2.50%) with another 25,000 watching on the timeshifted option.

Five US also had the better of Sky 1 at 9pm with CSI: NY on 321,000 (1.45%).

Harry Potter/Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Elsewhere the terrestrial premiere of the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helped ITV1 to a bumper peaktime performance with 7.2m (28.5%) over nearly three hours. The film peaked with 8m (31.6%).

BBC1's big Sunday night drama Tess of the D'Urbervilles ended on a strong note with 5.6m (22.2%), a rise of 700,000 from last week.

At the start of peaktime BBC1's natural history series Big Cat Live at 6.10pm wasn't quite king of the ratings jungle but still managed a decent 4.2m (18.8%) over an hour. The show was eclipsed by The X Factor on ITV1 with 9.5m (42.7%).

Channel 4 devoted a sizeable chunk of its peaktime share with 1.8m (7.7%) for 95-minutes with another 100,000 watching on C4+1.

Five's film Hart's War, starring Bruce Willis, managed 1m (5.1%). BBC2's James May's Big Ideas, also at 9pm, had 2.4m (9.3%) for an hour.

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