ITV’s Alison Steadman-fronted comedy drama Love and Marriage started strongly on Wednesday with just under 5m viewers, while The Apprentice rebounded for BBC1 following a return to its regular slot.

Love and Marriage (ITV) 9pm – 10pm
4.76m (20.55%)

ITV’s new Alison Steadman-fronted sitcom started well, adding more than 300,000 viewers to the channel’s 12 month slot average of 4.4m (18.78%).

The 6 x 60-minute series, which is produced by Endemol’s Tiger Aspect, follows the Paradise family who have to deal with Steadman’s decision to walk out on her family the day she retires from her job as a lollipop lady.

The Apprentice (BBC1) 9pm – 10pm
5.96m (25.55%)

The Apprentice recovered more than 500,000 viewers from last week, when it was moved to Tuesday to prevent a clash with ITV’s England football friendly.

The sixth installment of Lord Sugar’s reality business series posted its third highest performance for its corporate away day episode.

it remained well above the channel’s 12 month slot average of 4.69m (20.04%), according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

NCIS (C5) 9pm – 10pm
1.62m (6.92%)

C5’s US crime import saw off competition from war documentaries on Channel 4 and BBC2.

D-Day: As It Happens (C4) 9pm – 10pm  
972,900 (4.17%)

The events of D-Day failed to resonate with viewers as the opening episode of Windfall Films’ two-part series was well down on the 2.6m (11.12%) slot average.

However the Normandy landings proved more popular than The Iraq War, which was being revisited on BBC2.

The Iraq War (BBC2) 9pm – 10pm
744,700 (3.19%)

The three-part documentary series shed over 200,000 viewers for its second episode, bringing it well below the station’s slot average of 1.22m (5.21%).

Pretty Woman (BBC3) 9pm – 10:55pm
837,700 (4.07%)

A repeat of the Julia Roberts and Robert Gere film from 1990 added more than 250,000 to the channel’s slot average of 582,800 (2.82%).

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