Seven million watch Big Brother 5 launch

Almost seven million Britons tuned in to watch the 12 new Big Brother contestants enter the house for the new series.

14:09 30 May 2004

Almost seven million Britons tuned in to watch the 12 new Big Brother contestants enter the house for the new series.

Big Brother 5 pulled in an average 6.7 million viewers and a peak audience of 7.2 million on Friday night.

The Big Brother opening show was screened at 22:00 BST on Channel 4, after the final episode of Friends aired.

Last year's launch show drew an audience of 6.9 million - the highest ever for a Big Brother first night.

A Channel 4 spokesperson said: "This was a fantastic night for Channel 4. We are thrilled that so many fans tuned in to say goodbye to Friends and that Big Brother has kicked off so strongly."

Nearly nine million viewers tuned in to Friends last night, making Big Brother and Friends Channel 4's highest rated show's this year and knocking Grand Designs and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares off the channel's the top spots.

Channel 4 dubbed Friday night 'Black Friday' to mark the end of Friends and the start of a new, more 'evil' Big Brother.

The 12 housemates were given a loud wake-up call on Saturday morning at 09:32 GMT, despite several of them staying up until dawn on their first night in the house.