Downton Abbey returns with 9 million viewers

The third series of Downton Abbey returned to ITV1 last night with an average of 9 million viewers.

The award winning drama, which aired at 9.00pm, managed an impressive peak of 9.6 million viewers, adding to a super night for ITV1.
The evening started with The Chase Celebrity Special which attracted an impressive 4.8 million viewers at 7.00pm. At 8.00pm the final X Factor auditions for this series had an average of 9.7 million viewers, peaking at 11.2 million viewers.
Over on BBC One Inspector George Gently, which began at 8.30pm, averaged 4.3 million viewers.
(ITV1 figures include +1)