Strictly Come Dancing in ratings boost as competition hots up

Strictly Come Dancing saw a small bump in overnight ratings as millions tuned in to the second week of the competition.

The show was the most watched show across all channels on Saturday night, the BBC has said, and was watched by an average of 7.9 million people.

This gave BBC One a 43.1 per cent share of the audience, according to overnight ratings, and was a boost to the 7.7 million average viewers who tuned in last week.

It peaked with 8.9 million viewers, which was also an improvement on the 8.5 million peak of last week.

The second live show saw CBBC star Karim Zeroual finish at the top of the leaderboard, with Olympic rower James Cracknell in a perilous position at the bottom.

On ITV, Britain's Got Talent: The Champions, which saw the return of former stars Collabro, Twist and Pulse, Bars & Melody and Ben Hart, drew an average of four million viewers, with a peak of 4.6 million and a share of 25%.

This was up on last week, which saw an average of 3.8 million and a 4.5 million peak.

ITV figures include those watching on HD and +1.

The first celebrity will get the boot from Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One at 7.15pm on Sunday, while the final of Britain's Got Talent: The Champions is on ITV on Saturday at 8.30pm.