High ratings for Catherine Tate

Tate is famous for her "Am I bovvered?" catchphrase

Comedian Catherine Tate has scored her biggest audience yet with the third series of her BBC Two sketch show.

The opening episode attracted 4.7m viewers, beating BBC One's Ancient Rome, according to estimated figures.

The audience was a significant improvement on Tate's first series, which averaged 3.4m viewers.

Tate, 38, has received several Bafta nominations for her character-based comedy, and has recently filmed scenes for the Doctor Who Christmas special.

The final part of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire on BBC One, only managed to find three million viewers on Thursday night.

ITV1's Ladette to Lady fared better, as 5.3 million people tuned in to give the reality show the largest audience of its run.

But soap operas continue to be the biggest draw on television, with EastEnders reaching 8.3 million viewers and Emmerdale scoring 7.4 million.