The much-hyped return of BBC1’s Poldark drew 5.1 million viewers but was narrowly beaten by ITV’s period drama Victoria on Sunday night.
The return of the BBC1 series, which has turned ab-tastic Aidan Turner into something of a national heart-throb, failed to come anywhere near the 6.9 million viewers who tuned into the launch of the first series.
Victoria bested Poldark, attracting an average of 5.2 million viewers, and a five-minute peak of 5.9 million versus Poldark’s 5.3 million, something of a surprise given that the BBC airs without ads.
Victoria’s audience dropped from the 5.7 million who tuned in for the premiere last Sunday. The second episode, which aired on the bank holiday Monday, also drew 5.2 million.
It was a good night for ITV with X Factor shoring up its audience with 7.64 million viewers, up by 400,000 on the fourth episode of the 2015 series, making it the biggest show of Sunday night.
Earlier, ITV’s coverage of England’s lacklustre World Cup qualifier against Slovakia drew an average of 5.2 million viewers and a five-minute peak of 7.76 million.
