Ireland's Fergal O'Brien was part of BBC 2's unforeseen snooker success a few weeks ago. The Dubliner, playing against England's Paul Hunter in the final of the Wembley Masters, lost 10-9 in an epic battle which ran half an hour past midnight.

At 10.40 p.m. on that final evening, BBC 2 had more viewers than BBC 1, ITV and Channel 4 combined. The match, in which Hunter was rattling out century breaks as fast as Stephen Hendry did at his peak (four in six frames at one point), held a 4.4 million audience throughout the last two hours until the finish, an exceptionally high late-night viewing figure.