Eastenders special steals the show

BBC One’s hour-long Eastenders pulled in the highest ratings last night with an impressive 11.4 million peak viewers.

The special-length episode, which saw the Ronnie and Danielle saga finally come to a dramatic end on Peggy and Archie’s wedding day, attracted 10.5 million average viewers and a 48.2% share between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

BBC One’s flagship soap managed to pick up more than double the number of viewers compared to any of the 9pm peak-hour programmes, and also kick-started the channel’s peak-run, which lasted from 7.30pm through to the end of BBC News at Ten.

All-new My Family followed on from Eastenders with a high 6.9 million viewers and a 30.8% share – the sitcom, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker, has returned to the BBC for ninth series.

How Woolies Became Wellies: One Woman’s Fight for the High Street secured the highest ratings during the all-important 9pm to 10pm slot, with 5.2 million peak viewers and a 21.8% share.

The one-off documentary followed the story of the Dorchester Woolworths, and how the redundant manager Claire Robertson turned things around and set up shop again.

Meanwhile, Five’s new series The Mentalist came second in the peak-hour ratings war, picking up 3.3 million peak viewers and a 14.6% share between 9pm and 10pm.

At the same time, Coleen Nolan’s The Truth About Eternal Youth banked 2.5 million viewers and a 11.6% share for ITV1, while Channel 4’s Cutting Edge – ‘Would you save a stranger?’ pulled in 1.3 million and BBC Two’s new The Children of Helen House Revisited picked up 1 million viewers.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.