The return of The Great British Bake Off for a new series brought in the show's highest launch audience of the Channel 4 era, according to overnight ratings data.

The new series, which was filmed in a large coronavirus production bubble over the summer, opened with an average of 6.9 million viewers - a 32% audience share - between 8.15pm and 9.45pm.

A peak of 8.2 million (36.4%) were watching at 9pm, the provisional figures show.

The average is up by 1 million viewers on last year's premiere episode and represents the fourth most-watched episode of a show broadcast by Channel 4 in its near 40-year history.

GBBO was slightly delayed by a coronavirus update from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which was seen by a combined audience of 17.7 million (69.7%) between 8pm and 8.15pm.