Merlin and X Factor lose 1m

BBC1's Merlin

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Saturday night big hitters Merlin and The X Factor both lost over a million viewers on BBC1 and ITV1.

BBC1's latest family drama Merlin wilted on its second outing at 6pm with an average audience of 4.9m (30.4% share), a fall of 1.1m on last week.

The 45-minute show, featuring Colin Morgan as the young magician, began with 4.4m (29.7%) and steadily rose to 5.6m (32.2%) in the final 15-minutes.

The show managed to break the channel's slot average for the year so far of 4.6m (26.3%).

Last week's opening episode, which aired at the later time of 7.30pm managed to draw in a sizeable 6.6m (30%).

BBC1 also took a knock with the second outing of its new gameshow, Hole in the Wall. The Dale Winton-fronted show lost 600,000 viewers week-on-week to average 2.7m (20.7%). The show was down by a million viewers compared with the slot average.

But the corporation's Strictly Come Dancing at 6.45pm continued to go from strength-to-strength. Last week's show, at 6.10pm, charmed 8m (42.5%) while Saturday's edition, at 6.45pm, drew an impressive 8.7m (41.3%). The show peaked with 9.4m (43%) at 7.30pm.

The X Factor

The start of the "boot-camp" section of The X Factor got off to something of a shaky start as the talent show lost 1.1m from last week. Saturday's show at 7.45pm, which clashed with the final 20-minutes of Strictly Come Dancing, averaged 8.2m (35.9%), peaking with 9m (38.9%). Last week, at 7.30pm, 9.3m (41.6%) tuned in.

While The X Factor lost viewers week-on-week the show was up by 1.2m on the equivalent show last year.

Making steady progress at the start of peaktime on the commercial network was You've Been Framed! Family Special which added on an extra 100,000 from the previous week to average 4.2m (25%), 200,000 more than the slot average.

ITV1's All Star Family Fortunes at 7pm interested 4.2m (20%).

ITV1's audience dropped off significantly once The X Factor ended as its film The Island at 9.15pm could only interest 2.6m (12.6%) over the first 60-minutes. BBC1's Casualty at 8.55pm gained 5.4m (24.9%).

Return of the King

Channel 4 devoted most of its peaktime line-up to the final instalment in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The Return of the King, which won 11 Oscars when it was released in 2003, averaged a steady 2m (9.9%) between 7.30pm and 11.15pm. The movie peaked with 2.5m (13%) at 10pm.

BBC2's history strand Timewatch returned for a new run at 8.05pm with the documentary Stonehenge securing a solid 2.1m (9.2%) for 55-minutes. The show was up on the channel's slot average by 400,000. The following repeat of Have I Got News for You at 9pm entertained 2m (9.3%).

Five's repeat of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from the eighth series at 9.45pm averaged 1.4m (7.6%).

Multichannel

Over in multichannel homes, More 4's latest acquisition had modest beginnings. US mini-series John Adams, which recently won 13 Emmys, averaged 103,000 (0.79%) over its feature-length opening episode at 5.30pm.

The seven-part drama, starring Paul Giamatti, peaked with 117,000 (1.09%) at the start. The show then drew a further 15,000 when it aired an hour later on More 4+1.

The period drama was a big hit with upmarket viewers, delivering a profile share of 48.9%. Younger viewers really weren't interested though as just 5.9% of the audience were aged between 16 and 34.

The big multichannel attraction of the day was ITV2's Xtra Factor at 9.15pm with 963,000 (5.45%).

All hours shares for Saturday 27 September 2008: BBC1 – 24.7%, ITV1 – 18%, C4 – 6.6% (C4+1 – 0.8%), BBC2 – 5.7%, Five – 5%, multichannel – 39.4%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: BBC1 – 30 ITV1 – 25 C4 – 7.6% (C4+1 – 0.5%), BBC2 – 7.3%, Five – 4.6%, multichannel – 25%.