The Voice final gets boost in a last gasp for ratings

More than seven million viewers tuned in to see Leanne Mitchell win BBC1’s the Voice.

Although it was more than two million up on the semi-finals, the show had almost five million fewer viewers than the final of ITV’s rival series Britain’s Got Talent last month.

The series had been pulling in as many as ten million viewers during its earlier stages and had beaten BGT on a number of occasions when they were both being screened. But it went on to have a ratings collapse and sunk to a low of 4.5 million last week for the semis.

Saturday night’s two-hour finale to the series pulled in an average audience of 7.1 million, and was the highest rated programme of the day.

Programme bosses have conceded that they need to make changes to the format to keep viewers interested, after popularity waned following the audition stage.

Mitchell has spoken of her astonishment after winning, saying she “never saw it coming”.

The singer, mentored by Sir Tom Jones, appeared stunned after the result of the public vote was announced.

The former holiday camp singer later said she could not believe what she was hearing.