BBC drama Bodyguard beats ITV’s Vanity Fair in Sunday night TV ratings war

The two primetime dramas went head-to-head - but which reigned supreme?

BBC drama Bodyguard faced opposition from ITV's adaptation of Vanity Fair in the battle for the Sunday night ratings.

It was the former which won the trophy, amassing 6.6m views which peaked at 7m with a 33% share of the night's audience - its largest viewership yet.

This was more than double what Vanity Fair achieved over on rival channel ITV1 which was viewed by 3.1m, not accounting for catch-up.

The series is an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel and stars Olivia Cooke as Becky Sharp whose attempts to claw her way to the top of English society takes her all the way to the court of King George IV. Suranne Jones and Michael Palin co-star.

Bodyguard has proved a critical and commercial hit since it debuted on BBC One last month. Created and written by Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio, it follows Home Secretary Julia Montague (Hawes) whose life may be endangered by the very man hired to protect her: Specialist Protection Officer David Budd (Madden).

Next year, Mercurio will bring his hit drama Line of Duty back to the BBC for a fifth series which commenced production last week. Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar will all return.

You can read our review of the latest episode of Bodyguard here, as well as the series premiere of Vanity Fair here.