Birdsong takes flight with 6m viewers

BBC1's adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's first world war novel Birdsong launched with 6 million viewers, while the network's Call the Midwife reinforced its credentials as a bona fide Sunday night hit, adding 600,000 viewers for its second outing. The first instalment of the two-part Birdsong adaptation averaged 6 million viewers and a 23.6% audience share over 90 minutes from 9pm. Birdsong took over the BBC1 9pm Sunday night slot from Sherlock, which bowed out the previous weekend with 7.9 million and a 30% share. The BBC1 period drama was up against ITV1's Wild at Heart (8.30pm: 6.4 million/23%, ITV1 +1 200,000/1%) and Dancing on Ice: the Skate-Off (9.30pm: 5.9 million/23%, ITV1 +1 300,000/0.9%), and That Sunday Night Show hosted by Adrian Chiles (10pm: 2.5 million/10.8%, ITV1 +1 100,000/0.5%). Earlier, the second episode of BBC1 six-part Call the Midwife, which saw the introduction of Miranda Hart's character Chummy Browne to the drama set in London's East End in the 1950s, averaged 8.6 million and 30.7% from 8pm. This was up on the 8 million and 27.5% for the previous Sunday's opening episode. Call the Midwife was up against ITV1's Dancing on Ice, which averaged 7.1 million and a 27.7% share between 6.10pm and 8.30pm, adding 200,000 and 0.8% when ITV1 +1 viewing is included. Competition on other channels included BBC2's coverage of the Masters Snooker final (8pm-11pm: 1.9 million/7.3%), Channel 4's terrestrial movie premiere 127 Hours (9pm: 2.2 million/9.2%, C4 +1: 300,000/1.2%) and Channel 5's World's Greatest Heroes (9.05pm: 500,000/1.9%) and Celebrity Big Brother (10pm: 1.8 million/8.5%, C5 +1: 100,000/0.5%). All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, +1 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 .