Doc Martin leaves rivals needing first aid

ITV1 drama series Doc Martin remained as popular as ever with the third series launching with 7.5m viewers (31.3%) at 9pm, giving it the edge over BBC1's ratings hit Silent Witness.

Last night's 60-minute episode suffered a small decline in its audience from 7.7m (32.3%) to 7.4m (31.3%) in the final 15 minutes. It was effectively in line with the previous series' average of 7.6m (32.3%) when it aired towards the end of 2005.

The show, which stars Martin Clunes as a rural GP, did not perform as well as the opening edition of the second series, which took 8.3m (35.4%) on 10 November in the same 9pm slot.

Doc Martin had an impact on BBC1's high-rating Silent Witness series. The start of the Peripheral Vision storyline, also at 9pm, gained 5.9m (24.7%), which was the lowest audience of the current 10 part run to date.

Over the nine editions that have aired, the series has averaged 6.3m (27.4%). Last night's programme was down by a million viewers on the previous Monday (17 September).

With big hitting shows on both the main two channels the remaining terrestrial channels were left picking up the scraps.

Making the best of things was Five's Extraordinary People strand with The Tiniest Boy in Britain. The 60 minute documentary gained 1.9m (8%), a rise of 900,000 viewers on last week's programme which had 1m (4.3%).

BBC2's final part of Grandad's Back in Business, this week called Grandma's Back in Business, gained 1m (4.2%).

Channel 4 devoted a large chunk of its peaktime schedule to the premiere of It's a Free World. The two-hour film, by acclaimed director Ken Loach, gained 800,000 (3.7%) from 9pm.

Starter for 10

BBC2 was in a much stronger position at 8pm with both University Challenge and Nigella Express both providing solid performances. The student quiz show at 8pm took 3.2m (13.4%) which was followed by the cookery show at 8.30pm on 2.9m (12.2%).

C4's Dispatches investigation, Nice Work If You Can Get It, had 900,000 (3.7%) and Five's Fifth Gear didn't perform much better with 1m (4%).

Nigella Express was only a whisker behind BBC1's Panorama programme at 8.30pm which took 3m (12.6%).

It was a particularly strong night for the soaps with both editions of ITV1's Coronation Street hitting the 10m mark. The 7.30pm outing got 10m (45.7%) which was followed by 10.1m (42.4%) watching an hour later.

BBC1's EastEnders at 8pm had 9.7m (41.4%)

Earlier in the day the start of a full series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, part of BBC1's CBBC programming proved to be a popular success as 1.3m (11.6%) watched for 25 minutes at 5pm. So far this year the channel has averaged 1.1m (9.2%) at that time.

Jailhouse rocks

Prison Break made a solid start in its new home of Sky One. The US series, now in its third run, gained 459,000 (3.28%) for an hour at 10pm. The show was well above the channel's slot average for the year so far of 139,000 (0.92%). An extra 32,000 viewers tuned in to the channel's interactive options.

Prison Break kicked off with 444,000 (2.70%), hit 506,000 (3.3%) at 10.15pm and ended with 392,000 (3.51%) in the final 15 minutes.

The drama series easily had the upper hand over most of its entertainment rivals but was outperformed by both ITV2 and BBC3 in multichannel homes.

Hell's Kitchen USA, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay, picked up 505,000 (3.62%) in the same slot on ITV2. BBC3's EastEnders outing at 10pm took 692,000 (4.36%). The corporation's entertainment channel though saw its audience drop to 284,000 (2.79%) at 10.30pm for Drop Dead Gorgeous.

All hours shares for Monday 24 September 2007: ITV1 – 23.7%, BBC1 – 23.3%, BBC2 – 7.4%, C4 -7%, Five – 5.2%, multichannel – 33.5%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: ITV1 – 29.9%, BBC1 – 24.9%, BBC2 – 8.2%, C4 – 5.3%, Five – 5%, multichannel – 26.8%.

Source: Broadcast Now