Motoring

Top Gear (second reboot) launched on BBC2 last night to an average audience of 2.79m (11.2% share). That compares with the first episode of the Chris Evans version at 4.34m (22.6%). I suspect Charlotte Moore still won't be too unhappy - last night's was a solid show, rather than spectacular, and did better than the Evans final editions. She may, however, have a word about including some more women, somewhere.

944k viewers had been insufficiently warned off The Nightly Show, and thus watched ITV's compendium of highlights at 22.20. 3.91m preferred the BBC's Regional News offerings.

This week, John Bishop hosts The Nightly Show - he's been practising chat shows for a while on the "W" Channel, which quietly replaced Blighty as part of the UKTV offering a couple of years ago. Since September he's done ten one-on-one 60-minute "Conversations", with James Corden, Charlotte Church, Steve Coogan, Alex Brooker, Kirsty Young, Freddie Flintoff, Lenny Henry, Jo Brand, Rupert Everett and Miriam Margolyes. A second series is underway, with Olly Murs and Lindsay Lohan already in the can for transmission later in March, and a third series has been commissioned. One suspects he's already better at listening with interest, feigned or otherwise, to answers than David Walliams will ever be.