The Big Brother-style programme separated 10 boys and 10 girls, all aged from eight to 12, into two communities for a fortnight without any parental intervention to discover who would "build a better world" for themselves.
Despite accusations of "corporate child abuse" from psychologists the show attracted 2.4m viewers and a 10.2% share of the audience at 9pm-10pm last night. Including Channel 4+1 figures it reached 2.6m viewers.
A few years ago Channel 4 screened a similar programme following 11-year-old boys left to fend for themselves, which was described by some as a real life 'Lord of the Flies'.
BBC One's 'Traffic Cops', which last night saw Yorkshire police combining officers from four different forces in a one-off blitz on car thieves, won the 9pm slot with 4.6m viewers and a 19.4% share of the audience.
Five's 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' drama about a team of forensic investigators in Las Vegas, pulled in 3.2m viewers and a 13.6% share over the same hour.
'Total Emergency', which this week saw police chasing a stolen car towing a caravan and an ambulance crew treating a butcher whose hand was caught in a mincer, drew 2.8m viewers and an 11.8% share of the same audience to ITV1.
BBC Two's 'Horizon: Cannabis: The Evil Weed', exploring what cannabis does to our brains and investigating whether it can really cause schizophrenia, netted 2.2m viewers and a 9.4% share of the 9pm-10pm audience.
.jpg)
.jpg)