News at Ten trounced: Sir Trevor's revamped show draws half the viewers of BBC rival

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But three months on, the relaunch of ITV's News at Ten has fallen flat after figures showed the BBC's rival bulletin is getting more than twice as many viewers.

ITV executives have been left devastated after failing to dent the success of the Ten O'Clock News since the flagship bulletins went head to head in January.

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Losing team: Mark Austin, Julie Etchingham and Trevor McDonald have flopped since their much-trumpeted relaunch

Since then, News at Ten has averaged 2.2million viewers compared to the 4.8million tuning in to the BBC's news show fronted by Huw Edwards.

A senior ITV insider admitted yesterday that the figures for the revamped News at Ten were "terrible", although sources at the company denied there was any pressure to axe the bulletin.

They said it had failed to "inherit" viewers from shows that immediately preceded it because dramas such as Rock Rivals and The Palace had been ratings flops.

One said: "People are happy with the product. The ratings are not great, but we've have not had a very good inheritance from ITV shows."

The sources also claimed that if the regional news sections of the bulletins are excluded from the figures then News at Ten gets

2.5million viewers compared to 5million on the BBC.

However, the 10.30pm bulletin that was replaced by News at Ten used to average 2.4million, meaning that the revamped show has put on just 100,000 viewers - far fewer than ITV would have hoped.

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Leading the way: Huw Edwards is trouncing the ITV opposition with 2.6million more viewers

Insiders expressed surprise at how loyal viewers have been to the BBC.

The source added: "The BBC's audience is much more entrenched than anyone realised. We thought we would give it a heavy knock. But there is a lot of loyalty there."

News at Ten began in 1967 but was replaced by an 11pm bulletin in 1999 to make way for films and sporting events.

Viewers deserted in their droves and News at Ten was brought back in 2001.

From 2004, ITV's nightly bulletin was shown at 10.30pm until this year's revamp.

Many News at Ten trademark features-were in place including the "And Finally" item at the end.

Former host Sir Trevor, 68, who had retired in December 2005 after 32 years with ITN, was behind the desk with co-presenter Julie Etchingham, poached from Sky News.

The show attracted an audience of 4.6million for one bulletin during its first week in January but failed to build on that, managing only 1.7million for one episode last month.

When News at Ten was first axed in 1999 it was attracting 6million viewers.

When it was brought back in 2001, it kicked off with 8.1million.

There is speculation over how long Sir Trevor can be convinced to keep fronting the show.

He was said to have returned reluctantly after a lucrative deal to become ITV's most prominent news anchor again and has declined to say how long he would remain.