ITV1 dominates 2009's top-rating programmes

For a supposedly beleagured TV network, ITV has had a great result in the most-watched programmes of 2009, with ITV1 scoring six out of the top 10 shows. The Britain's Got Talent Final Results show was top with almost 18 million viewers and a remarkable 68 per cent share of the total watching audience, according to the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board figures. It was followed in second place by The X Factor Results show with 16 million, and Coronation Street* with 11.34 million for its most-watched episode. The highest-rating BBC programme was an episode of EastEnders, which drew 11.25 million viewers, for fourth place, while ITV1's Dancing on Ice was watched by 11.02 million. The most-watched show in the top 100 from outside ITV1 and BBC1 was BBC2's Top Gear, an episode of which drew 7.11 million viewers and came 42nd in the top 100. There were no programmes from digital channels in the top 100. The Top 10 Most-Watched Programmes of 2009: 1. Britain's Got Talent Final Results - 17.73 million 2. The X Factor Reults - 16.02 million 3. Coronation Street - 11.34 million 4. EastEnders - 11.25 million 5. Dancing on Ice - 11.02 million 6. Strictly Come Dancing - 10.52 million 7. Comic Relief - 10.34 million 8. The Royle Family 10.25 million 9. I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! - 10.25 million 10. I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story - 10.17 million *Only a series' top-rated episode is considered

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.