Impressive ratings for Scott & Bailey

Scott & BaileyITV’s new female detective drama Scott & Bailey, starring Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones, made an impressive debut on ITV1 last night with nearly 8 million viewers.

The new six-part drama launched on ITV1 last night at 9pm and according to overnight figures had just under 8 million viewers. However, when figures from ITV1’s time-shift channel are taken into account then the ratings rise to nearer 8.3 million viewers. That’s a pretty impressive launch for Scott & Bailey especially considering last week Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn, bowed out with just over 5 million viewers (overnight figures). The Lesley Sharp/Suranne Jones drama benefited from a strong-lead in thought in the form of Britain’s Got Talent which had 9.8 million viewers meaning the vast majority of the audience stuck around.

Over on BBC One and at 7pm rural magazine programme Countryfile had 5 mill;ion viewers followed by Antiques Roadshow with 5.2 million viewers. At 9pm Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the second film in the franchise, had 4.5 million viewers. The fourth film in the franchise, On Stranger Tides, is currently out at cinemas across the UK.