Channel 4's popular Big Fat Gypsy Wedding series continued with another set of bumper ratings last night - peaking with almost 8 million viewers during the all-important 9pm to 10pm prime time slot.

The five part documentary series, which is due to finish next week, is Channel 4's most-watched factual programme ever. Having developed from a Cutting Edge film, it is also the channel's eighth highest-rating programme ever, proving that there is life after Big Brother for C4.

However, despite being a ratings success, the series has come under fire for sensationalising the life of a traveller for television. There has also been a significant social media reaction to the programme, particularly via Twitter (see - #bigfatgypsywedding) with some positive tweets but some negative, which critics have singled out.

Regardless of any bad press, Channel 4 will be pleased with the hype surrounding the show. Last night, the penultimate Big Fat Gypsy Wedding easily banked the peak-hour ratings ahead of ITV1 and BBC One with an impressive 7.4 million average viewers and a 29.2% audience share (peaking with over 7.9 million viewers at 9.30pm).

BBC One's second Outcasts, which secured the top ratings on Monday night, was Channel 4's closest competitor during the 9pm to 10pm slot. The drama attracted with 3.3 million average viewers and a 13% share.

ITV1's Taggart came next in line, pulling in 3 million average viewers and a 11.8% audience share, followed by 5's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which picked up 1.8 million viewers and a 7.3% share.

On BBC Two, the new two-part series The Chinese Are Coming debuted with 1.3 million viewers and a 5.2% average share between 9pm and 10pm.

Earlier on in the evening, BBC One claimed the pre-watershed ratings with Eastenders and Holby City. The channel's flagship soap peaked with 6.8 million viewers, while Holby City secured a high of 6.2 million viewers.

Meanwhile, in the 7pm to 7.30pm slot, ITV1's Emmerdale achieved a peak audience of 7.4 million viewers.

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.