BBC1’s new Sunday night drama Undercover began with more than 5 million viewers, but it was not able to fill the shoes of The Night Manager on Sunday night.
Undercover, starring Sophie Okonedo and Adrian Lester, drew 5.2 million viewers, a 24.1% share from 9pm.
It was neck and neck with the return of ITV’s world war two drama Home Fires, which also had 5.2 million viewers.
Undercover was down about 1 million viewers compared with the opening episode of its Sunday predecessor The Night Manager, which began with 6.1 million viewers in February.
But the biggest drama of the night was The Durrells, starring Keeley Hawes and based on the memoirs of Gerald Durrell. Drawing comparisons with 90s hit The Darling Buds of May, it began with 6.4 million viewers, a 29% share, from 8pm.
The Durrells had the better of BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow, which attracted 5.3 million viewers, a 23.8% share.
It even beat BBC1’s Countryfile, which drew 6.3 million viewers (32.5%) an hour earlier at 7pm.
