[Mickey2009]

Vic and Bob were back on BBC2 with a bang last night as revived panel show Shooting Stars grabbed an impressive 2.7m (13.7% share) at 10pm.


The 30-minute comedy comfortably outperformed the slot average of 1.9m (9.5%) and was only beaten by the ten o’clock news on BBC1, watched by 4.6m (22.6%).

Shooting Stars shot down ITV1’s News at Ten, which got 2.1m viewers (10.3%), as well as Channel 4’s Ugly Betty and Five’s Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Second in Command. The former averaged 1.2m (6.8%) across an hour at 10pm and a further 166,000 (1.9%) on C4+1 while the latter, which ran from 9pm to 10.50pm, had 1.1m viewers (5.2%).

BBC2’s strong performance began earlier as Dragons’ Den did the business at 9pm. It averaged 3.8m (16.9%) across an hour and was the top show on TV between 9.30pm and 10pm once the Arsenal v Celtic game had come to an end on ITV1’s Champions League coverage.

ITV1’s coverage averaged 4.3m (19.9%) from 7.30pm and 10pm and peaked at 5.4m (26%) during the first half.

On BBC1, a repeat of Christmas blockbuster film The 39 Steps was watched by an underwhelming 3.6m (15.8%) from 8.30pm to 10pm.

Big Brother on C4, closing in on the end of its penultimate series, did not much of a boost from the coverage of its demise next year. It attracted 2.1m (9.1%) between 9pm and 10pm, and a further 360,000 (2.2%).