BBC1 was miles ahead of the terrestrial competition on Saturday as Manchester United's demolition of Arsenal in the FA Cup was supported by 8m (40%).

The match, which kicked off at 5.30pm, gained a sizeable peak of 8.7m (38.5%) at 6.45pm as the London side was convincingly defeat 4-0.

The corporation's entire coverage, which ran from 5.05pm to 7.30pm, was considerably above the slot average of 4.8m (28.1%).

The viewing figures for the game only measure “at home” viewing and won't take into account those people who will have seen the game in a pub or bar.

At the time the football coverage was on BBC1 towered over the competition.

ITV1 was the next most popular channel at the time. The conclusion of its James Bond movie Licence to Kill at 5.45pm had 3.1m (15.3%). Harry Hill's TV Burp, which followed at 6.45pm, took a severe knock.

The normally popular show was down by 2m viewers on last week with an audience of 4.8m (21%). The previous Saturday (9 February) it interested 6.8m (32%) at 6.50pm.

BBC1 kept up the pressure at 7.30pm with the final of its talent contest The One and Only.

The tribute act show was top dog for 50-minutes with an average audience of 6.4m (28.2%). It hit a high of 6.9m (30%) at 8pm.

It was the highest performance of the talent show throughout its entire run. Overall, it averaged 5.3m (23.8%) over seven weeks. Audiences have fluctuated rather wildly though. The series, hosted by Graham Norton, kicked off on 5 January with 6.2m (26.4%) but the later results show on the same day only had 4.5m (19.9%).

The final results show at 9.40pm, which saw Katy Setterfiled win as Dusty Springfield, also broke the 6m mark on 6.3m (28.9%) for half an hour.

Order a Takeaway

The popular ITV1 presenting duo of Ant and Dec were back on screen at 8.15pm with a new run of their Saturday Night Takeaway. The 75-minute entertainment show drew a solid 6.1m (25.6%), largely in line with last year's troubled run when it averaged 6.2m (31.2%) in September.

ITV1's audience fell off sharply though afterwards as Duel at 9.30pm only interested 3m (13.8%) and Thank God You're Here, an hour later, on 1.5m (9.4%).

BBC1's news at 10.10pm had 5m (23.8%).

The remaining terrestrial channels never really got a break in making an impression with the viewers.

BBC2's repeat of Have I Got News for You at 9pm had 1.8m (7.6%) while its film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada had just 1.2m (6.4%).

Channel 4 wasn't in a much strong position either. Its repeat of Grand Designs at 8pm had 1.1m (4.8%) while its movie, Patriot Games, at 9pm thrilled 1.6m (7.5%).

An episode of CSI: NY at 9.40pm on Five had 2.5m (12%) but earlier, at 8.45pm, NCIS interested 1.5m (6.3%).

All hours shares for Saturday 16 February 2008: BBC1 - 28.1%, ITV1 - 15.3%, Five - 6.2%, C4 - 5.6%, BBC2 - 5.2%, multichannel - 39.1%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: BBC1 - 31.2%, ITV1 - 21.2%, Five - 7.4%, BBC2 - 6%, C4 - 5.5%, multichannel - 28.4%.

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