Initial figures show Victoria saw a peak audience of 5-point-9 million viewers.
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It was a good night for ITV with X Factor shoring up its audience with 7.64 million viewers, up by 400,000 on the fourth episode of the 2015 series, making it the biggest show of Sunday night.
In the battle for Sunday night period drama ratings, the much-anticipated contest for viewers between ‘Poldark and “Victoria” has ended up with ratings nearly too close to call, and a victory for each depending on which you look at it.
“Victoria”, which stars “Doctor Who’s” Jenna Coleman as the young queen, is on its third episode and follows the monarch from her accession to the throne at the age of 18 through to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.
Last year Captain Ross Poldark, played by Aidan Turner, enticed 5.9 million viewers to the show, which in turn has fuelled a surge in visits to Cornwall.
This is the second week running that the lavish ITV drama has had the upper hand over the BBC’s offerings.
In the new series, Ross faces capital crimes while he and his wife Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) are still dealing with the death of their daughter, Julia.
Victoria, with Jenna Coleman in the lead, beat the opposition when it made its debut on ITV last weekend.
Irish actor Aidan has won legions of fans with his brooding role as Poldark, and his topless scything has become one of the drama’s most memorable moments (so far).
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But the rebooted Poldark did boost BBC1’s audience share and each episode was watched by more than 8m people after iPlayer viewings are taken into account.
