Beaten by a Sherlock trailer

The gap between XFactor and Strictly in the overnight ratings widened on Saturday. Even The Sun noticed there was a poor ratio of singing to barracking in this year's tweaks to the basic Cowell format. And the introduction of formal pleading ("Dis means everything to me, more than my life, Simon") builds on the Roman arena atmosphere.

An ITV source tells The Sun “We’re damaged no one takes catch-up into account. Strictly’s watched by pensioners who stay in. We appeal to a younger audience who watch the next day.”

Not as many of this younger audience catch-up as perhaps Cowell would like. X Factor did indeed beat Strictly in the most recent BARB catch-up league table - Strictly was in 36th place, with 84,000, with Xfactor 25th with 121,315. But look at all those BBC programmes way ahead....(Click to go large).