BBC political drama The Project has lost out to Five (formerly Channel 5) in the ratings as the heavily promoted BBC One two-parter reached its climax on Monday night.

On the second night of The Project, the average audience was 2.6 million viewers, compared with 3.1 million for Hollywood thriller, The Negotiator, on Five.

This compared with Sunday night's opening episode of The Project, which drew an average audience of 2.8 million viewers.

It followed much media coverage on the controversial nature of the fictional story told in the programme.

The drama, written by Peter Kosminsky, depicts the rise to power of three young new Labour members, before and after their party's General Election victory of 1997.

The Project is led by a young cast

The Negotiator, a 1998 movie starring Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey, tells the story of a hostage negotiator who is framed for the murder of his partner.

Press reports suggested the BBC had commissioned The Project - complete with behind-the-scenes intrigue and sex scenes - in an attempt to win younger viewers.

A BBC spokeswoman said The Project had fulfilled the corporation's programme-making obligations.

Contemporary

"The Project was never about ratings but about producing challenging drama and that is what it did," the spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

"All we wanted to do was tell a story about disillusionment within politics and how it affected three young people.

"But The Project was never specifically designed to attract the young. The BBC has a duty to reflect the way we live now."

Despite Five's victory, the overall winner on Monday night was ITV1.

The channel attracted an audience of 6.5 million with its comedy drama Stan the Man, starring John Thomson, formerly of Cold Feet.

Meanwhile, BBC Two's long-running comedy music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks pulled an average of 3.4 million viewers.

Channel 4's highly commended documentary Marrying A Stranger - about the voluntary arranged marriage of a young, successful Muslim man living in London - was watched by an average of 2.5 million viewers.