The Olympics opening ceremony was seen by a peak audience of more than 27 million viewers on the BBC in the UK last night, according to early ratings figures.
The ceremony, assembled by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, began at 9pm and culminated after 12.30am when seven young sports stars of the future jointly lit the Olympic flame.
Other highlights of the ceremony included David Beckham arriving at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford by speedboat and The Queen parachuting into the stadium from a helicopter.
The peak audience came at 9.50pm during a segment in which Rowan Atkinson adopted his Mr. Bean persona for a live sketch involving the London Symphony Orchestra. An estimated 26.89 million - an 81.6% share of the TV audience - were watching on BBC One and BBC One HD. A further 113,000 (0.34%) were watching 3D coverage on the BBC HD channel, taking the total peak audience to 27m (81.94%).
Overall, coverage of the ceremony averaged a colossal 23.02m (82.17%) between 9pm and 12.50am for BBC One. Earlier, a two-hour countdown show - hosted by Gary Lineker and Sue Barker - delivered 10.08m (44.8%) from 7pm.
Overnight ratings figures do not take into account anyone who may have been watching the coverage at pubs, bars or outdoor venues.
The total worldwide audience is projected to be around 1 billion, or 15% of the Earth's population.
