Scott & Bailey returns with nearly 7 million viewers

ITV crime drama Scott & Bailey, which stars Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp, returned to ITV1 last night for a second series with nearly 7 million viewers.

The second series kicked off at 9pm last night with 6.8 million viewers while a further 325,000 viewers watched an hour later via ITV’s time-shift channel. That gives Scott & Bailey a combined audience of roughly 7.1 million viewers – an impressive return for the drama. It is, though, down on last year’s premier which had 7.9 million viewers. BBC One’s Empire, fronted by Jeremy Paxman, continued with 2.6 million viewers in the 9pm hour. BBC Four’s Dirk Gently pulled in 464,000 viewers at 9pm, down from last week’s figure of 740,000 viewers.