Five million swept away by Echo Beach

ITV1 triumphed in the ratings on Thursday night with new soap Echo Beach and its sister show Moving Wallpaper pulling in more than five million viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.

Moving Wallpaper, the mockumentary which followed the fictional production team preparing to launch Echo Beach, debuted at 9pm and achieved an average 21 per cent share of the total TV audience.

And viewers clearly liked what they saw with Echo Beach also winning a 21 per cent share of the audience when it followed at 9.30pm.

Set in the fictional Cornish town of Polnarren, Echo Beach follows the lives of two feuding families following an affair between Susan Penwarden (played by Martine McCutcheon) and Daniel Marrack (Jason Donovan).

But BBC1's new series Fairy Tales saw anything but a happy ending.

The hour-long first episode, loosely based on the children's classic Rapunzel, was watched by just 3.1 million viewers - a 13 per cent audience share.

Channel 4's Dispatches special The Truth About Your Food also swallowed up 3.1 million and a 13 per cent share.

Meanwhile, Five's Make Your Child Brilliant drew 900,000 viewers - a 4 per cent share - in its 9pm slot.