The first episode of the new series of The Great British Bake Off was the most watched opener in the show's history, with 9.3 million tuning into the premiere last week in the UK.

The show was also popular in Ireland, with some 130,000 people seeing beetroot-loving musician Stu Henshall become the first baker to be eliminated, according to the TAM Ireland / Nielsen ratings.

This is a multiple of the numbers who normally tune into BBC 1 at 8pm on Wednesday and bodes well for interest in the third series of Sideline Productions' The Great Irish Bake Off when it returns to TV3 later this year. (The closing date for applications was in February.)

The first episode also generated 161,516 tweets between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. That’s 1,346 tweets per minute or 22.4 tweets per second.

The Great British Bake Off has proven sweet indeed for the BBC, which has sold the show to 196 territories and the format to 20 countries where local versions are produced. This makes it the third most successful BBC format after Dancing with the Stars (the international name for Strictly Come Dancing) and The Weakest Link.

Most popular

But it is in the original home market where it is most popular. Some 12.3 million people watched the final of the last series, making it the second most popular television show in the UK in 2014 after the altogether less life-affirming

World Cup

match between England and Uruguay. (England collapsed like an un-set mousse.)