Dead shopkeeper and nerds relegate Kevin Rudd to third in ratings battle while X Factor and Big Brother see off Tony Abbott

PM Kevin Rudd’s Q&A appearance on ABC1 was third in its timeslot last night, behind Seven’s British drama Mr Selfridge and the Big Bang Theory on Nine.

In the final week before Saturday’s election just 684,000 metro viewers tuned in to watch Q&A hosted by Tony Jones at 9.30pm last night, preliminary overnight ratings from OzTam show.

Meanwhile Mr Selfridge, telling the story of Harry Selfridge, who died in 1947, averaged 781,000 between 8.40pm and 10.30pm, while nerd comedy The Big Bang Theory had 775,000 viewers.

An earlier interview with Opposition leader Tony Abbott on ABC1’s 7.30 program with Leigh Sales had 791,000 viewers and was third behind Seven’s The X Factor and Nine’s Big Brother.