'The Apprentice' beats 'Lewis' series premiere
Published May 17 2012, 10:43 BST | By Ben Lee
© BBC / Talkback Thames
Lewis managed 5.21m (22.7%) across its two-hour slot (+1: 320k/1.5%) but could not compete with The Apprentice (6.09m/25.2%) from 9pm.
Earlier on BBC One, DIY SOS: The Big Build garnered 4.68m (21.5%) in the 8pm hour.
BBC Two showed Great British Menu (1.94m/10.2%), Antiques Uncovered (1.03m/4.8%) and Felicity Kendal's Indian Shakespeare Quest (772k/3.2%) before Apprentice spin-off You're Fired! won 2.23m (11.3%).
On Channel 4, Secret Eaters averaged 1.68m (7.7%) from 8pm (+1: 219k/0.9%) and 24 Hours in A&E had 2.37m (9.8%) from 9pm (+1: 471k/2.7%). The American version of The Killing continued afterwards with 521k (3%).
NCIS grabbed 1.2m (4.9%) for Channel 5 (+1: 144k/0.8%). Emergency Bikers was watched by 784k (3.6%) from 8pm.
Overall, BBC One secured primetime victory with 22.1% ahead of ITV1's 19.8% (+1: 1.1%). BBC Two and Channel 4 tied for third place with 6.4%, though Channel 4 did gain 1.3% on +1, and Channel 5 ended with 3.8% (+1: 0.2%).
On the multichannels, ITV2's The Only Way Is Essex was enjoyed by 899k (4.8%) from 10pm (+1: 184k/1.8%), with Peter Andre: My Life taking 706k (2.9%) an hour earlier (+1: 178k/1%).
The latest Justified episode entertained 123k (0.5%) on 5USA and Archer took 57k (0.3%) on 5*.
BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional
The Apprentice is more than capable of being a heavily popular show but somehow from the first episode some attention to detail has been lost - Introductions were missing or rushed but the format has not failed to deliver but that's the main problem -It's exactly the same format. Watched every episode and the finales always make up for it but 2013 they really should twist it about.
May 17th 2012 at 4:47pm
get ridof alan sugar and freshen up the show having richard branson instead
May 17th 2012 at 2:54pm
The series premier of Lewis was 1 hour 55 minutes too long. I can now see why Colin Dexter has said it's the last series. The programme was all over the place and to be honest I didn't care who killed who in the end. If the series premier is setting the standard for this series - I'm one viewer that will be switching to another channel.
May 17th 2012 at 1:55pm(+1 like)