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Friday, 26 May 2006 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Sunday evening's BBC Three repeat of The Age of Steel was watched by 606,800 viewers, placing it first in its multichannel timeslot and fourth for the day, according to overnight viewing figures. The average overnight rating for the Sunday repeats has been 574,000 so far this series, with only New Earth achieving a comparatively low 0.4m in its final rating. The multichannel audience share has ranged from 2.5% to 4.1%. The AI in this slot has tended to be a little higher than for the Saturday night first showings, with scores as high as 89 for School Reunion.

The Friday peaktime repeats have reached a smaller number of viewers, an average of 284,000, and an audience share of 1.7% to 2.8%, with Rise of the Cybermen being seen last Friday by 309,100 (1.7%) in a hotly contested timeslot. While the Sunday audience seems fairly consistent so far, Friday's audience seems to fluctuate more, and largely in line with the ratings for Saturday nights - the higher the Saturday figure, the fewer people watch on Friday.

This means that the first five episodes of Series Two have achieved a remarkably consistent first-week audience, drawn from Saturday and timeshift viewers, and Sunday or Friday repeat audiences. While the series' Saturday overnight average stands at 7.9m (up from 7.3m in the same period last year), the series actually seems to have an average total audience of 9.6m (up from 8.6m the same period in 2005), with less variation - so far - between episodes. The variation in these approximate figures across the five weeks is only a half-million either side of the average figure (while a programme like EastEnders can have greater fluctuation across a single week):

1. Tooth and Claw 10.2m
2. Rise of the Cybermen 10.16m
3. New Earth 9.5m
4. School Reunion 9.37m
5. The Girl in the Fireplace 8.94m

The first three weekday evening repeats this week have attracted a steady audience of about a quarter of a million each night: New Earth 237,000 (1.2%); Tooth and Claw 253,000 (1.7%); School Reunion 267,000 (1.6%).




FILTER: - Ratings - UK - Series 2/28