Britain's Got Talent final was ranked the lowest audience in show's history

Overnight viewing figures showed that an average of 8 million viewers tuned in to watch the live finale of Britain's Got Talent – the lowest audience ever for ITV's talent show. An ITV spokeswoman said the show peaked at 10.5 million viewers – when 500,000 who watched the time-delayed repeat on ITV1+1 were added to the figure.

The figures, revealed by BBC News, were especially shocking, as it was the talent show's 10th anniversary.

BGT's previous low was in 2014, when 10.7 million saw singing act Collabro win. Last year's Britain's Got Talent final was watched by an average of 11.7 million viewers – 46.6% audience share. But back in 2009, more than 17 million viewers tuned in to watch dance act Diversity win the final.

The finale usually does extremely well with viewers, and is one of the most-watched programmes of the year. But, this year it's unlikely to earn that title.

The finale was broadcast at the same time as the Uefa Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It was broadcast on subscription service BT Sport and on YouTube free of charge, which could have distracted some of BGT's audience.

BGT's 2016 winner, Richard Jones – a serving soldier with the Band of The Household Cavalry – won a £250,000 prize and the opportunity to appear at the Royal Variety Performance.

The 25-year-old said: "I can't believe it, thank you so much to everyone that voted – it's been an incredible experience, it means the world to me."

Jones's act featured a card trick which told the story of Britain's oldest living magician, Fergus Anckorn, and how he used magic to help him cope with being a prisoner of war in Singapore. And the 25-year-old magician also went to the lengths of bringing out the 97-year-old former prisoner of war Anckorn on stage!

Singer Wayne Woordward came in a close second.