BBC1 broadcast debate between Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond in Scotland, with BBC2 covering rest of UK

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

More than 2 million viewers watched the second Scottish independence TV debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling broadcast by the BBC, following controversy that the first head-to-head on STV was not broadcast across the whole of the UK.

The head-to-head, which was widely regarded to have been won by Salmond after the first minister of Scotland leader lost out in the first debate earlier this month, had an average audience of 2.3 million for Monday night’s broadcast on BBC1 in Scotland and BBC2 across the rest of the UK.

BBC1 Scotland attracted 843,000 viewers, with a further 1.7 million viewers, a 6.8% share of the audience, on BBC2 between 8.30pm and 10pm on Monday.

In what will be regarded as a strong ratings performance, Scotland Decides: Salmond vs Darling beat a Channel 4 line-up including the return of Richard Ayoade series Gadget Man, which was back with 1.1 million viewers (4%) between 8.30pm and 9pm, and Royal Marines Commando School, watched by 1.6 million (5.5%) between 9pm and 10pm.

ITV has said it will simulcast the second STV-staged debate, on 2 September, on itvnews.com, as well as repeating it on the main ITV channel at 10.35pm.

The first STV debate between Salmond and Darling was only shown on TV in Scotland and many viewers who tried to watch it outside of the country on the STV Player were unable to because of technical problems.

STV, the ITV licence holder, turned down requests by the BBC and Sky News to simulcast the debate and blamed unprecedented demand for the online crash.

Not as new as they were tricks

The second episode of the new series of BBC1’s New Tricks had 5.8 million viewers (23.8%) between 9pm and 10pm, ahead of ITV’s Long Lost Family, with 3.5 million (13.4%).

Elsewhere, Al Murray’s Great British War Movies on BBC4 had 454,000 viewers between 9pm and 10pm, while the second series of US sci-fi drama Under the Dome began on Channel 5 with 900,000 viewers (4.6%) between 10pm and 11pm.

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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