The Fall arrests the competition

The Belfast-based thriller, produced by Gub Neal’s Artists Studio, returned to the top after the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals exited the weekday schedule.

It was the drama’s third biggest audience of a five-part run, which is set to climax next week.

The Fall’s audience remained consistent over the 60-minute period it was on air, helping it easily outclimb BBC2’s 12-month slot average of 1.89m (7.79%) viewers.

ITV’s gay sitcom, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, plunged to a new low. Its audience was less than half the series debut, which amused 5.87m (24.41%) in April.

The Job Lot followed up to 10pm with 2.04m (8.91%) – almost identical to the viewing figures for its previous outing on 20 May, according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

The final instalment of Channel 4’s poverty documentary was second in line in the primetime slot.

Overall, the four-part series pulled in 2.8m (11.89%) viewers, which was above C4’s slot average of 2.06m (8.5%) for the past year.

The presenter marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation in front of a below-par crowd. Its audience of 2.77m was classified as a “poor” performance for a factual show in the slot by Attentional.

Channel 5’s exclusive interview with the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead by Paralympic athlete Pistorius in February, was more than 100k viewers above slot average.

It was followed by Pistorius Trial: The Key Questions, which also performed well with 1.15m (6.91%) over the 10pm hour.