Love Island’s return helped break records for ITV2 on Monday night, bringing in the digital channel’s highest overnight ratings ever. 

The first episode of the new series pulled in an impressive average of 2.9 million viewers from 9pm. 

The show peaked at a whopping 3.4m at one point during its 95-minute slot. 

The average figure beats the previous record for ITV2, which was set during last year’s series finale when 2.6m watched live.  

The number who tuned in to see the series premiere has more than doubled year-on-year, as 1.3m watched the first episode of the 2017 series. 

‘Love Island’ was also the most-watched show at 9pm across all channels on Monday night, even beating BBC One and ITV in the slot with a 16% audience share. 

Last year, ‘Love Island’ trounced rival reality show ‘Big Brother’ in the ratings, with Channel 5 bosses delaying the start of the 2018 series to avoid a clash – a decision which now seems very wise. 

The first episode of ‘Love Island’ saw the new bunch of singletons couple-up for the first time, but they were dealt a shock when a late entrant prepared to steal one of the girls. 

Its return wasn’t without its controversy, however, as viewers expressed their unease after contestant Samira Mighty was quizzed about her ability to twerk just moments after entering the villa. 

‘Love Island’ continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2.