Rafter's rating through the roof

Packed to the Rafters lifted its ratings in the second episode which aired last night, eclipsing the magical 2 million viewer mark to win the night’s most popular show with 2.05 million viewers.

These enormous figures for Rafters are even more impressive with Ten screening a brand new episode of NCIS and Nine had their ‘Adult’s Only’ hour of Two and A Half Men.

Channel Ten’s new drama, Rush debuted with 1.16 million viewers, beaten by All Saints which had 1.3 million viewers also paying respect to deceased actor Mark Priestly.

Rush’s figures are OK for the new Australian drama in a program that had another take on policing. John Edwards’ influence is obvious with a Police Rescue-esque feel but the team are involved in more than just rescue operations.

Perhaps the show may be a bit of a dark horse with the number of new Australian dramas being launched, this one has not had the same push as Seven and Nine’s new shows but I think it definitely has legs and I was most impressed with the show. Rodger Corser leads the cast well and Catherine McClements is an obvious strength while Callan Mulvey and Nicole de Silva also impressed. Expect to see Rush’s ratings improve next week.

Tuesday is still owned by Seven with 34.4% of the audience share, thrashing Ten who finished second on 23.7% and Nine finished third with 23.1% of the audience share.

Seven has really struck a chord with audiences by scheduling RSPCA: Animal Rescue (1.7 million), Find My Family (1.6 million), Packed to the Rafters (2.045 million) and All Saints (1.3 million) on Tuesday night.

Nine’s best show was the Two and A Half Men repeat at 7pm (1.2 million viewers) but was beaten by Home and Away (1.4 million).

A huge night for Seven and a great night for Australian drama with the three products all rating above 1 million and for Rafters, the magical 2 million plus. Isn't it good to see that Australian television drama is back and we don't have to rely on American imports for ratings... now it's to The Strip