More than nine million watch Sir Mo Farah’s SPOTY win

More than nine million people tuned in to watch Sir Mo Farah crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday night.

The live awards programme, which suffered from technical glitches and overran by several minutes, was viewed by a peak of 9.4 million in its final minutes, according to overnight data.

This marked a huge boost in the ratings as the average number of viewers for the BBC One broadcast was 5.4 million, with an audience share of 26.9%.

However, the final of The Apprentice – which aired several minutes late due to the sports programme overrunning – was the most-watched programme of the day overall.

The business reality show scored an average of 6.5 million viewers and had a 30.9% share of the audience, the BBC has said.

The episode, which saw Lord Sugar choose both James White and Sarah Lynn as his winners, peaked at seven million viewers.

Companion programme The Apprentice: You’re Hired was watched by an average of 3.6 million viewers when it aired directly after the main show.

The long-distance runner was not present at the ceremony at Liverpool’s Echo Arena and instead appeared via a live link from his London home with his children, who stole the limelight during his time on the air.

Sir Mo was shocked at being named the winner, after it was highly suspected that boxer Anthony Joshua would take the title.

After the show, via a video link, he said: “To be honest, I’m kind of shocked. I didn’t prepare any speech.”