Whitechapel slaughters rivals

ITV1's Ripper drama Whitechapel dominated viewing last night at 9pm with an impressive audience of 7.1m viewers (28.3% share), overshadowing everyone else.

The second instalment of the three-part drama began with 7.3m (29%) but slowly lost ground and ended the final 15 minutes on 6.9m (22.7%) at 9.45pm. The production, from Carnival Films, once again easily broke the channel's slot average for last year of 4.7m (19.9%).

The show, starring Rupert Penry-Jones on the trail of a modern-day Jack the Ripper, started last week with an impressive 8.1m (29.8%) on a day that saw bumper viewing figures due to the adverse weather conditions.

Channel 4's documentary The Princess and the Gangster, which marked the start of the broadcaster's Toffs and Crims season, managed 1.8m (7%) over an hour and then added on a further 177,000 on C4+1 at 10pm. Five's film Today You Die managed 1.1m (5.2%).

Source: BroadcastNow