Nigel Farage emerged the ratings winner in BBC1’s series of leader interviews with Evan Davis, watched by more viewers than tuned into David Cameron, Ed Miliband or Nick Clegg.



The Ukip leader’s encounter with Davis, in which he accused the Newsnight presenter of being a member of the “liberal metropolitan elite”, pulled in 2.5 million viewers, a 14% share, from 7.30pm on Wednesday.

Farage was up against ITV’s Coronation Street, which attracted 6.4 million viewers, a 33.7% share.

The Ukip leader drew half a million more viewers than watched any of the other leader interviews, with just over 2 million tuning into Davis’s head to head with the Lib Dems’ Nick Clegg on 13 April and just under 2 million watching his grilling of Labour leader Ed Miliband on 20 April.

David Cameron trailed in last place in the overnight ratings, with an audience of 1.8 million for his BBC1 leader interview on 15 April.

No laughing matter

ITV’s all-new Wednesday night lineup took a tumble on its second outing last night.

Satirical puppet show Newzoids could only manage 2.5 million viewers, an 11.6% share, from 9pm, around a third down from 3.7 million (18.1%) last week.

It was followed by maternity ward sitcom The Delivery Man which failed to deliver with just 1.5 million viewers (7%) down more than a million from last week’s 2.6 million (13.2%).

Neither were helped by the lead-in from Amanda Holden celebrity pet series Give a Pet a Home, which drew just 2.6 million viewers (12.9%) from 8pm, down from last week’s 2.8 million (14.7%).

They lost out to a BBC1 lineup including MasterChef at 8pm with 5.1 million viewers (26.2%) and Secret Britain at 9pm with 4 million (19.9%).

The Delivery Man was also beaten by Channel 4’s The Island with Bear Grylls, five episodes into its 14-part run with 2.3 million viewers (10.2%) from 9pm.

At the same time on Channel 5, documentary Autopsy: the last Hours of Robin Williams, drew 1.6 million viewers (7.2%).