The first programme in an 11-part series, which was shot in HD over four years at a cost of over £11m, on Sunday (5 March) in a 9pm slot attracted 8.7 million (32.1%). The documentary held a largely stable audience throughout but had a peak of 8.9 million (32.4%) halfway through.
Sunday nights are highly competitive with around 24 million people watching television at this time - some of biggest audiences of the week.
Planet Earth performed the rare feat of winning its Sunday evening slot for BBC1 and pushing ITV1 into second place. ITV1's two-hour detective drama Midsomer Murders, which started at 9pm, appealed to 8.4 million (34.9%).
The last time a natural history programme had a larger audience was in September 2001 when Planet Earth's sister programme Blue Planetattracted a consolidated audience of 9.7 million (37.2%) in a 9pm slot on a Wednesday. The series averaged 7.8 million (33%).
Other high-profile natural history programmes in recent years have included Life in the Undergrowthin November last year on 4.9 million (19%) while in January 2002 Life of Mammalsgained 6.2 million (23%).
ITV1's Dancing on Iceput the other broadcasters in a spin on Saturday (4 March). The main show at 6.50pm lured 10.6 million (46.8%) over 80 minutes with a peak of 11.9 million (52%) at 7.20pm. The 45-minute results show at 9.10pm pulled-in 10.8 million (43.8%).
BBC1 couldn't really come close at those times. The 60-minute Making Your Mind Upat 6.20pm had 2.8 million (13.9%) while the penultimate Just the Two of Usat 9.10pm drew 4.4 million (18.1%).
Dancing on Ice has been a runaway success for ITV1 with the entire eight week series averaging 9.5 million (42%) and attracting 38% of the key 16 to 34-year-old demographic. Can Planet Earth's creatures on ice match that for the BBC over the coming weeks?
Top 10 natural history shows in past 12 months
Programme Channel TX Audience Share
(millions) (%)
1 Planet Earth BBC1 5.3.06 8.7 32.1
2 Amazon Abyss BBC1 5.4.05 6.3 31.2
3 Coast BBC2 24.7.05 5.2 20.7
4 Elephant Diaries BBC1 5.7.05 5.1 25.4
5 Life in the Undergrowth BBC1 23.11.05 4.9 19.1
6 Film: Deep Blue BBC1 5.9.05 4.6 19.9
6 Walking with Monsters BBC1 8.12.05 4.6 19.7
8 Journey of Life BBC1 14.4.05 4.5 19.6
8 Sharks on Trial ITV1 4.9.05 4.5 21.2
10 Chimp Week BBC1 13.1.06 4.4 20.8
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