'Life on Mars', which stars John Simm as detective Sam Tyler, had regularly been attracting audiences of more than 7.5m during its debut season last year and won best drama series at the International Emmy Awards in November 2006.
Over on Channel 4 at the same time, another new series, 'Never Did Me Any Harm', which followed children attempting to survive the same upbringing as their parents, brought in 2.2m or an 8.9% share of the viewing audience. Like 'Life on Mars', it went back to the 1970s as kids of today were forced to eat the beans on toast, tinned vegetables and rice pudding that their parents had eaten.
On ITV1 at the same time and broadcast until 10.30pm, the thriller 'Trial and Retribution' drew in 5.5m viewers and a 23% share of the total viewing audience, while on BBC Two, celebrity court drama 'The Verdict', starring Michael Portillo and Jeffrey Archer, brought in 1.7m viewers, or a 7% share of the total audience.
On Five, the backbone of the channel's schedule, 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', performed well with a 2.7m audience and a 10.9% share of the total audience.
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