BBC One A Class Apart

Friday night saw the screening of new one-off drama A Class Apart, starring Jessie Wallace (Eastenders’ Kat Slater) as a single mum battling to get her 11-year-old son the education he deserved.

On BBC One at 8.30pm, the show attracted a peak audience of 6.1 million adults (a 28.3% share) and had an average audience of 5.8 million adults across its hour and a half running time.

On Saturday, ITV1 screened a special edition of their ice-dancing show, with Dancing On Ice: Champion Of Champions setting out to find who rules the rink.

The final skate-off ended with Kyran and Melanie emerging triumphant as the ultimate champions, and a peak of 8.1 million adults saw them do it, a 41.3% share of the audience.

The only other show to come close to matching the ice-dancing extravaganza was Casualty on BBC One, where cross-dressing and illicit kisses were just what the doctor ordered.

The hospital based drama had a peak audience of six million adult viewers in its 8.30pm slot and managed an average audience of 5.8 million adults.

ITV1 ruled the roost on Sunday too, with Coronation Street once again proving its worth. In a tense episode, Tracy revealed to Dierdre exactly what happened to Charlie as the pair prepared for the upcoming trial.

An average of 7.8 million adults watched the half-hour show (a 44.3% share) which was a veritable tour de force of emotive acting from the two female leads.

Following straight on from that on ITV1 at 8pm was The Royal, which had a peak audience of 7.9 million adults eagerly tuning in to see what the 60s set medical drama had to offer.

At 9pm, ITV1 continued its season of Jane Austen adaptations with Northanger Abbey, which brought in an average audience of 5.4 million adult viewers across its two-hour running time.

Up against the period drama was Castaway on BBC One, and this fared rather poorly when measured against the success of ITV1’s programming.

An average of just 1.9 million adults tuned into the island-based reality show and reports in the trade press claim that the series will now be moved from its Sunday night slot.

According to the reports, Castaway will now be shown three times per-week for half an hour on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 7pm, placing it head-to-head with Emmerdale on ITV1.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk