Gordon Ramsay's new seriesCookalong Live made a strong start in the ratings for Channel 4 on Friday night.

The show, which sees the chef encouraging viewers to cook a three-course meal live, drew an average of 2.51m (11.3%) in the 9pm hour.

The ratings are up significantly on the 1.37m (6.2%) who watched the season finale ofUgly Betty in the same slotlast week but are significantly down on the huge 4.18m (17.6%) audience for a one-offCookalong Live pilot in January this year.

ITV1 won the hour with 4.83m (21.7%) for the penultimate episode ofWire in The Blood. BBC One had 5.12m (22.5%) forHave I Got News For You, down almost a million on last week's opener, then 3.65m (16.7%) sawLittle Britain USA.

BBC Two'sThe American Future: A History, By Simon Schama was down to 1.51m (6.8%) and on Five,NCIS picked up 1.43m (6.4%).

At 10pm,Al Murray's Happy Hour ended its run with 2.61m (14.3%) for ITV1. Over seven weeks the chatshow has averaged 2.27m (12.8%), down slightly on the previous series' 2.5m (12.8%).

Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong rallied to 1.43m (7.6%) for Channel 4 and on BBC One,Friday Night With Jonathan Ross delivered 3.93m (27.7%).

Coronation Street brought in the day's best audiences, with 9.13m (42%) at 7.30pm and 8.73m (38.4%) an hour later.EastEnders was second with 8.2m (37.3%) and 569,000 (3.3%) on BBC Three.Emmerdale put in 6.67m (33.6%) at 7pm.

At 8pm,Mastermind interested 2.41m (11%) for BBC Two then half an hour later,Gardeners' World took 2.08m (9.1%).Police Interceptors brought in 1.43m (6.4%) to Five, while Channel 4'sA Place In The Sun: Home Or Away had a miserable 1.18m (5.3%).

ITV1 was steady in primetime with an average share of 25.4% (last week: 25.4%), followed by BBC One on 22% (23.6%) and BBC Two on 8.3% (8.1%). Channel 4 had 6.9% (4.9%) for fourth, with Five last on 5.3% (5.5%).

In multichannel homes, E4'sHollyoaks picked up 637,000 (3.8%) at 7pm (+1: 104,000, 0.6%) and Fiver'sHome & Away had 397,000 (2.3%) at 6.30pm.

Ratings data supplied byAttentional