Deronda and Zhivago no match for Robin Hood

Andrew Davies's adaptation of Doctor Zhivago narrowly beat Andrew Davies's adaptation of Daniel Deronda in the weekend battle for television audiences, early viewing figures indicated.

Both were trumped in the ratings contest by a 1991 Hollywood film – which was not adapted by Davies.

Opening episodes of the two serials were originally scheduled against each other on Sunday night.

But the BBC abandoned its traditional classic series slot and moved Daniel Deronda to Saturday after objections from Davies. It also reportedly feared the adaptation of George Eliot's last novel would be beaten by the more glamorous Doctor Zhivago on ITV.

Daniel Deronda, starring newcomers Hugh Dancy and Romola Garai, drew 5.8 million viewers – the BBC's biggest costume drama audience for two years. It was up against ITV's popular reality show Popstars: the Rivals.

Doctor Zhivago, Davies's adaptation of the Boris Pasternak novel starring Keira Knightley, 19, pulled in 6.5 million viewers on Sunday evening.

It too faced strong competition: the first eviction from Celebrity Big Brother, which netted 4.2 million viewers for Channel 4. But the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, on BBC1 on Sunday night, won the ratings battle, with 6.6 million viewers.

The BBC's weekend's showpiece event, also on Sunday, which saw Winston Churchill triumphing in the final of the Great Britons poll, pulled in only 3.3 million viewers.

The programme that scored highest in the ratings for the weekend was Heartbeat on ITV. It pulled in 10.7 million viewers initially, four million of whom later switched off or turned over to see Dr Zhivago.

The BBC said it was happy with the figures for Daniel Deronda. Jane Tranter, the BBC's controller of drama, said: "For a relatively unknown work to have reached such a wide audience is a testament to both director Tom Hooper's and writer Andrew Davies's skill at adapting a complex and dense novel for a mainstream audience."

Critical opinion was divided but most predicted that the more populist Dr Zhivago would stay on top.