Watch Gin and trainer Kate perform

An attractive string quartet, a contortionist and Gin the dancing dog were among the performers as more than 10 million tuned into watch the new series of ITV1's Britain's Got Talent.

The channel said 10.6 million viewers - a 44 per cent audience share - watched the show last night.

The last series of Britain's Got Talent was won by Carphone Warehouse manager-turned-opera singer Paul Potts.

Last night's show beat BBC1's Oliver! talent search, I'd Do Anything, which attracted a peak audience of 6.5 million or 28.7 per cent of viewers.

The news was less good for ITV1's heavily marketed US import Pushing Daisies starring former Brookside actress Anna Friel, which also made its debut last night.

Friel plays the childhood sweetheart of a pie maker who can talk to murder victims in order to gain the reward money to find their killers.

Pushing Daisies won 5.7 million viewers, but was out-performed by the long-running BBC1 drama Casualty, which managed an audience of 6.2 million rising to a peak of 6.5 million.

But ITV claimed a victory because 31 per cent of its target younger audience of 16-34-year-olds tuned in compared to 18 per cent watching Casualty.

The channel's new celebrity game show All Star Mr & Mrs attracted 6.3 million viewers, or 29 per cent of the audience share, but its BBC1 rival Doctor Who continued to perform strongly with a peak audience of 8.5 million or 37.1per cent.

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