The Bridge crosses the 1m-viewer mark

BBC4's latest Scandinavian thriller The Bridge began with more than 1 million viewers on Saturday, better than either series of The Killing. The Bridge, based around the discovery of a body on the Oresund bridge, half in Denmark and half in Sweden, had 1.03 million viewers, a 4.3% share of the audience on BBC4 between 9pm and 10pm on Saturday. The Bridge had another 67,000 viewers on BBC HD, giving it a total audience of 1.097m viewers. It was followed immediately by the second episode of the 10-part drama, which was watched by 833,000 viewers, a 4.2% share between 10pm and 11pm. The Bridge out rated the launch of the second series of The Killing , which began with 815,000 viewers on 19 November last year, and the 393,000 viewers who watched the first series opener in January last year. Two-thirds up on BBC4's average audience for the slot over the last three months, it also beat BBC4's other Danish drama, Borgen, which began with 629,000 viewers . The launch episode had a bigger audience than Channel 5, which had 810,000 viewers (3.6%) for a repeat of US drama NCIS between 9.10pm and 10.10pm. It was also neck and neck with Channel 4 which gave a rapid repeat to its documentary about the sale of Elisabeth Taylor's jewellery first show last Wednesday. Elizabeth Taylor: Auction of a Lifetime, averaged 899,000 viewers (3.6%) between 8.10pm and 9.45pm (although rather higher when it was head to head with The Bridge) across Channel 4 and Channel 4 +1. The Bridge tied with Sky Sports 2's live Saturday lunchtime coverage of Arsenal's 0-0 Premier League draw with Chelsea as the second most-watched multichannel programme on Saturday. The live football, which had an 11.3% share between midday and 3.15pm, was the most watched show on pay-TV channels. Britain's Got More Talent was the most popular multichannel show of the day, averaging 1.121 million and a 5.3% share from 9.45pm on ITV2. Smash? It has been called the Glee for grownups , but Smash has some way to go before matching its predecessor's ratings success. Smash, with an all-star cast including Debra Messing, Jack Davenport and Anjelica Huston, began on Sky Atlantic with 75,000 viewers, a 0.4% share of the audience, between 10pm and 11pm on Saturday. However, this was up 185% of Sky Atlantic's average for the slot over the last three months. All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC and some other channels including Sky1) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook .