TV Weekly Viewing Summary W/E 07/09/97

Following the tragic death of Diana, Princess Of Wales, much of this week’s combined ITV and BBC chart is made up of coverage of the funeral and related programmes. The BBC’s coverage of the funeral itself proved the most popular programme of the week with 19.29 million tuning in, ITV’s coverage attracted 11.71 million. Earlier that morning, 14.78 million had watched the BBC’s coverage of the procession to Westminster Abbey with 8.71 million watching the equivalent on ITV. As the procession left the Abbey, the cameras followed. The BBC’s Journey To Althorp was watched by 11.64 million, with 10.82 watching on ITV. The increased desire for up to date news following the unfolding of events surrounding the Princess’s death is reflected in the vastly increased viewing figures for the news throughout the week, with Sunday’s Evening News (21:04) from ITN drawing 13.19 million viewers.

Coronation Street comes out as the top soap of the week, scoring an average audience of 13.59 million over its four episodes. Eastenders achieved an average of 13.26 million over its three episodes, with Emmerdale attracting an average of 10.48 million. Top drama of the week is Heartbeat for the second week, watched by 14.07 million. Top comedy of the week was Only Fools And Horses, seen by 10.97 million.

Over on Channel 4, Friends remains top of the chart, watched by 4.93 million. Channel 5’s top programme of the week was the film Bad Girls (1.44 million).

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