The programme has enjoyed a slight boost in the overnight ratings compared to the previous two series
The Britain’s Got Talent finale attracted its highest amount of viewers since 2015, although it still did not manage to pull in as many as it did back then.
Sunday night’s broadcast, which saw comedian Lost Voice Guy win the series and included a surprise appearance from Hollywood star Channing Tatum, was watched by an average of 8.7 million viewers.
The episode, which aired from 7.30pm until 10.05pm, had a peak of 10.6 million viewers.
The overnight figures for Britain’s Got Talent, which include those watching on ITV+1, were up on the equivalent episodes in 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, the finale averaged 8.5 million viewers and peaked at 10.5 million, while in 2017 it drew an average of 8.2 million viewers and had a peak of 10.2 million.
These marked a drop from the 2015 series finale, which averaged 11.7 million viewers in the overnight ratings, with a peak of 13.4 million.
ITV said Britain’s Got Talent was the most-watched programme of the night, and had a 42% audience share.
It was watched by double the amount of viewers compared to BBC One drama A Very English Scandal, which aired at 9pm and had an average of 4.2 million viewers and a peak of 4.4 million.
The Britain’s Got Talent finale came after Declan Donnelly hosted the week of live semi-final shows on his own for the first time.
He and his presenting partner Ant McPartlin appeared together in the pre-recorded audition episodes, filmed before Ant stepped back from his presenting commitments.
Britain’s Got Talent head judge Simon Cowell praised Dec for the way he had handled the live shows alone, telling him he had done an “outstanding job this week”.
