Soaps Triumph Over Soccer

Football was the name of the game last night, with BBC One screening the FA Cup quarter-final replay between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

A peak of 6.4 million adults watched the climactic scenes unfold, as an ineffective Tottenham team rued letting slip a 3-1 lead from the first match, losing 2-1 in the replay.

Chelsea, plaything to the mysterious Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, were back to winning ways, and an average of 5.8 million watched the entire coverage, a 25.9% share of the audience.

However, up against the Chelsea juggernaut, ITV1 stuck to the tried and tested with its Monday night soap bonanza of Emmerdale and a double-bill of Coronation Street and was not disappointed.

Emmerdale, on at 7pm, attracted a peak audience of 8.3 million adults, giving the show a whopping 41.8% audience share.

An average of eight million adults stuck with the programme all the way through its half-hour running time, no doubt enthralled by the sight of Pollard sticking it to Val after she brought up his attempt to fake his paternity test.

The first instalment of Coronation Street, on ITV1 right after Emmerdale, did even better than the rural soap, with a peak audience of 10.4 million, a massive 48.2% share.

The second instalment didn’t fare badly either, with a peak of eight million adults and an average of 7.8 million. Many in the audience may well have been watching open mouthed as it became clear exactly what sort of business Leanne was involved in: prostitution.

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, ITV2 and Sky One.

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