MediaTel

BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing finally stole the show this weekend with a high of more than 11.2 million viewers.

The two-part final showdown, which saw Hollyoaks' Ricky Whittle and the BBC's Chris Hollins battle it out with their partners to be crowned this year's winner, secured the limelight all evening for the first time in months.

The talent contest had been fighting it out with ITV1's The X Factor for highest ratings each weekend but sensibly decided to air the final a week after The X Factor's last show - which pulled in over 17.1 million viewers.

However, ITV1's Saturday evening line-up failed to compete this weekend.  Footage from Take That's Circus tour attracted 3.1 million average viewers and a 13.3% audience share from 6.30pm onwards compared to Strictly's 10 million average viewers and 41.4% share.

At 8pm, ITV1's one-off documentary Stars on the Street, which looked at the celebrities who have appeared in Coronation Street over the past 50 years, settled on 3.5 million viewers and a 15.1% share, while BBC One's Casualty picked up over 6.5 million viewers and a 27.8% share.

The Strictly Come Dancing results show followed with more than 10.3 million average viewers and a 42% share between 8.40pm and 9.40pm, seeing off competition from ITV1's 9pm film Love Actually.

BBC One also held on to the peak audience later in the evening with the fourth episode of the comedy stand-up show Live at the Apollo, BBC News and Match of the Day - despite clashing with BBC Two's film premiere of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, ITV1's Love Actually, Channel 4's double helping of Wife Swap and Five's CSI run.

The channel also secured a peak run on Friday evening from 9pm onwards with Have I Got News For You, Live at the Apollo, BBC News at Ten and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk's TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.