BBC1 draws most peak-time viewers

The woes of the ITV network deepened yesterday when figures showed BBC1 had for the first time secured a larger share of the monthly peak- time audience than its main commercial rival.

The corporation's flagship channel edged ahead of ITV1 with 29.4 per cent of all viewers in the crucial 6pm to 10.30pm time slot for May, thanks to strong ratings for shows such as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

The figures are more bad news for the commercial network, which drew 28.4 per cent of the audience, after the failure of ITV Digital and a deep advertising recession.

BBC executives, who also pointed to the success of new series such as Cutting It, a drama about Manchester hairdressers, said they were reaping the rewards of pouring cash into drama. A spokeswoman said: "The extra investment is being seen on screen and viewers are enjoying it."

ITV did not want to read too much into the figures, pointing out that it was increasing its budgets after Granada and Carlton had pumped nearly £1bn into ITV Digital.

An ITV spokesman said: "Across this year ITV1 has maintained a healthy lead over BBC1 in peak time so it is misleading to take one month's figures. The advertising recession has affected programme budgets but the recent announcement of a £25m increase in the autumn schedule signalled ITV's determination to fight back and improve its performance."