Controversial Channel 4 series attracts biggest audience in 9pm hour, beating BBC1's New Tricks and ITV's The Bletchley Circle
Channel 4's controversial documentary series Benefits Street attracted more than 5 million viewers for the second week running on Monday night.
The third episode of Benefits Street pulled in 5.2 million viewers and 21.2% audience share, achieving the rare feat for Channel 4 of beating the BBC1 and ITV competition and being the most popular show in the 9pm hour for the second week running.
Benefits Street launched with 4.3 million viewers and attracted 5.1 million last Monday, with a 20.8% share.
9pm competition included a New Tricks repeat on BBC1, which attracted 2.7 million viewers, a share of 10.9%. ITV's period drama, The Bletchley Circle drew an audience of 3.9 million, a 16% share, marking a drop on last week's audience of 4.2 million.
At the same time, Channel 5 saw an increase in its audience for Celebrity Big Brother from 2.3 million to 2.6 million week on week, a share of 10.6%.
Winterwatch launched on BBC2 with 2.8 million viewers and an 11.2% share from 8.30pm.
**All ratings are **Barb** overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC channels) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated**
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Channel 4's controversial documentary series Benefits Street attracted more than 5 million viewers for the second week running on Monday night.
The third episode of Benefits Street pulled in 5.2 million viewers and 21.2% audience share, achieving the rare feat for Channel 4 of beating the BBC1 and ITV competition and being the most popular show in the 9pm hour for the second week running.
Benefits Street launched with 4.3 million viewers and attracted 5.1 million last Monday, with a 20.8% share.
9pm competition included a New Tricks repeat on BBC1, which attracted 2.7 million viewers, a share of 10.9%. ITV's period drama, The Bletchley Circle drew an audience of 3.9 million, a 16% share, marking a drop on last week's audience of 4.2 million.
At the same time, Channel 5 saw an increase in its audience for Celebrity Big Brother from 2.3 million to 2.6 million week on week, a share of 10.6%.
Winterwatch launched on BBC2 with 2.8 million viewers and an 11.2% share from 8.30pm.
**All ratings are **Barb** overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC channels) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated**
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.