TV Overnights: 8.4m tune for latest Barlow drama

Soaps were littered throughout Thursday night’s prime-time schedule with the top four most watched programmes of the day falling into the high-drama category. Things kicked off on ITV1 at 7pm with the first episode of Emmerdale. 35.6% of the available audience tuned in as Cameron made the no-turning-back life-changing decision to leave Debbie, resulting in a total average audience of 7.4 million viewers.

This was followed by EastEnders over on BBC One, which is in danger of being mistaken for a Bad Girls reunion. 7.2 million viewers watched as Lucy Beale accused Mandy of cheating on Ian. Naturally the exchange took place in the packed Queen Vic. The episode scored an audience share of 33.2%.

The second episode of Emmerdale attracted 34% of the available audience as Cameron turned an emotional 180° and decided that Debbie was the woman for him after all. Sadly for him, Debbie was a bit fed up at that stage and called it a day but the audience remained patient as the episode bagged 7.3 million viewers.

ITV1 continued to churn out the drama with Coronation Street grabbing the biggest audience of the day at 8.30pm. 8.4 million people watched as Peter Barlow tried once again to resist the temptation of the demon drink (only one more day until the weekend, mate). The episode secured an audience share of 34%.

At 9pm, BBC One’s Masterchef saw the remaining contestants go to Thailand for their latest challenge. The audience peaked in the last half an hour with 4.4 million viewers and had an average audience share of 18%.

Up against Masterchef in the 9pm slot was the second part of mini-series Kidnap and Ransom on ITV1. The show, which stars Trevor Eve as a hostage negotiator, was watched by almost the same size audience as last week’s debut episode (4.4 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.