Andy Murray's defeat in Australian Open watched by 5 million on BBC1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/28/andy-murray-australian-open-top-gear

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A peak audience of more than 5 million viewers watched Andy Murray suffer an agonising defeat in his bid to win a second Grand Slam in the Australian Open tennis final on BBC1 on Sunday morning.

BBC1's live coverage of Murray's four-set defeat to Novak Djokovic averaged 4.1 million viewers, a 38% share of the audience, between 8.15am and 12.45pm, with a 15-minute peak of 5.1 million between midday and 12.15pm. This was up to four times BBC1's typical audience on a Sunday morning.

On Sunday evening, BBC2's Top Gear returned for its 19th series on BBC2 with 5.3 million viewers, a 17.9% share, between 8pm and 9pm, including 929,000 viewers on BBC HD.

Top Gear was neck and neck with ITV1's Dancing on Ice: the Skate Off, which also had 5.3 million viewers, a 17.4% share, between 8.30pm and 9pm.

Earlier, the main Dancing on Ice show had 7 million viewers (28.8%) between 6.15pm and 7.45pm.

Top Gear may have given a leg-up to BBC2's latest series with Professor Brian Cox, Wonders of Life, which followed it at 9pm.

The first of a five-part series, Wonders of Life had 3.1 million viewers (12.3%), including 422,000 viewers on BBC HD.

At the same time on 9pm, ITV1's Mr Selfridge held the whip hand over BBC1's Ripper Street in the battle of the Sunday night dramas.

Mr Selfridge, the fourth of a 10-part run, had 6 million viewers, a 23.6% share, ahead of Ripper Street's 5.2 million (20.7%).

Later, BBC1's Holocaust Memorial Day documentary Prisoner Number A26188: Henia Bryer was watched by 1.9 million viewers, a 13.3% share, between 10.25pm and 11.05pm.

Channel 4's terrestrial movie premiere The Fighter, with Christian Bale, was watched by 1.2 million viewers (5.9%) between 9pm and 11.20pm.

It was matched by Channel 5's US drama Person of Interest, which also had 1.2 million viewers (4.8%).

Butter fingers

Earlier, ITV's live coverage of Oldham Athletic's 3-2 fourth round FA Cup giant-killing over Liverpool proved a ratings winner with a 15-minute teatime peak of nearly 7 million viewers.

FA Cup Live had an average of 4.5 million viewers, a 25.8% share, between 3.30pm and 6.05pm.

Live coverage of the match itself, which kicked off at 4pm, averaged 5.2 million with a peak of 6.8 million for its climax between 5.45pm and 6pm.

Popular midwifery

BBC1's Call the Midwife was the most watched programme of the day across all channels, with 8.7 million viewers, a 29.6% share, between 8pm and 9pm, down from last week's series opener (and all-time high) of 9.3 million.

All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC channels) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated

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