Overnight ratings indicate that gentle crime drama Death in Paradise had it’s best series launch ever. Series 3 launched with an overnight rating of 7.13m The BBC1 drama was the most watched show of the night outside of EastEnders. Channel 4’s cooking competition The Taste faired considerably  less well loosing 820,000 from its opening episode last Tuesday and bringing the overnight rating to a measly 1.00m/4.2% share. Red Planet Pictures’ Executive Producer, Tony Jordan said: “We’re thrilled that the Death In Paradise audience have taken new DI, Humphrey Goodman, to their hearts. Such strong ratings are a brilliant way to kick off the new series and we hope that audiences will continue to tune in to see Humphrey grow and develop in Saint Marie throughout the series”

The second episode is next Tuesday at 9.00pm on BBC One.

Overnight data sourced from TVRatingsUK