Downton trounces Spooks in ratings

A Fellowe of infinite jest? The Downton Abbey writer says reading Shakespeare in the original requires "a kind of Shakespearian scholarship" (Getty)

ITV's period hit Downton Abbey won the battle of the dramas on Sunday, attracting double the audience of BBC's spy series Spooks.

The second-series return of the show pulled in an average of 9.3 million viewers, against the 4.6 million audience for the BBC1 programme, which began its final run after 10 years.

Downton lost 1.6 million viewers from the start to the finish of the 90-minute episode, but had been expected to triumph when the shows went head to head.