Soap Awards Clean Up
Almost 5.6 million adults tuned in to ITV1 to see the stars of the soaps gather for a night of glamour and celebration as Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton hosted the ninth annual British Soap Awards.
The programme gained a 25.5% audience share on average for the channel across its two-hour running time.
Meanwhile, Channel 4’s Property Ladder saw the glamorous Sarah Beeny following two couples as they attempted to cash in on developments in London’s Greenwich and Gloucestershire’s Stroud.
Just over 2.4 million adults witnessed the couples’ success, giving the broadcaster an 11.6% share between 8pm and 9pm.
Following on from the straight talking Beeny, Channel 4’s controversial mega hit, Big Brother, made its return for the summer amid continuing controversy.
The show was preceded by an on-screen Ofcom statement, telling viewers that there was a serious failure within Channel 4’s compliance procedures for the last Celebrity Big Brother series (see Ofcom Announces Celebrity Big Brother Ruling).
More than 5.3 million showed interest in the new housemates entering this year’s slightly topsy-turvy house, giving Channel 4 an average viewing share of 23.4% between 9pm and 10pm.
Whether the T&A approach by the programme’s producers will retain this size of audience for the well-worn format remains to be seen, but the channel’s bosses will no doubt have everything crossed that the show remains a success.
Over on BBC One, The Apprentice lured 4.3 million on average as the competition to become Sir Alan Sugar’s latest employee got even tougher. The entrepreneurial reality show gave BBC One an 18.6% audience share during Big Brother’s 8‘s debut.
A Desperate Housewives double bill, which signalled the end of the current series, was also a boon for Channel 4, drawing in an average audience of almost 2.9 million (17.8%) between 10pm and 11.30pm.
Meanwhile, Five’s new quiz show, Payday, had an average adult audience of 326,000 (2%) between 6.30pm and 7pm, compared to the 286,000 (1.8%) figure for Tuesday’s debut edition (see Five Launches New Weekday Quiz Format).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv