The X Factor retains Saturday crown

ITV1's The X Factor picked up 9.7m viewers (39.6%) on Saturday evening, keeping it in front of its rival Strictly Come Dancing.

The talent show, which went out at 7.45pm, picked up an extra 600,000 viewers from the previous week to dominate Saturday night viewing.

It outshone BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing, which grabbed 9.3m (39.3%) over 90-minutes, a rise of 700,000 week-on-week.

The ITV1 show then returned for its results show at 10.10pm with a strong 7.7m (38.0%).

It was, overall, an impressive peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) performance from ITV1 with only one show – Totally You've Been Framed! – dipping below the six million mark with 5.5m (25.2%) at 6.15pm.

Harry Hill's TV Burp, in direct competition with Strictly Come Dancing at 7.15pm, managed 6m (25.2%) while All Star Family Fortunes won over 6.3m (27.9%) at 9.25pm.

BBC1's family drama Merlin picked up an extra half a million viewers from last week with 5.5m (28.6%) at 5.50pm, comfortably breaking the slot average of 4.4m (26%).

After Strictly Come Dancing the lottery show Who Dares Wins gained 5m (20.7%) at 8.05pm. Casualty at 8.55pm had 5.2m (21.7%).

Source: BroadcastNow