ITV1 wins Friday ratings battle

ITV1 notched up another ratings win on Friday night with its lineup of soaps and drama.

ITV1 notched up another ratings win on Friday night with its lineup of soaps and drama.

The channel recorded an average audience share of 24.4% between 7pm and 11pm, compared to BBC One's 19.9% and BBC Two's 8.6%. Channel 4 continued to mourn the loss of Big Brother with an average share of 5.9%, just ahead of Five's 5.5%.

Anchoring early primetime for ITV1 was Coronation Street, which drew audiences of 7.76m (39.5%) at 7.30pm and 7.53m (34.4%) an hour later. Emmerdale had a decent 6.05m (33.9%) at 7pm and at 8pm, a Tonight report on inheritance battles brought in 2.97m (14.2%).

EastEnders was BBC One's top draw, with 6.97m (33.5%) at 8pm. DIY SOS followed at 8.30pm with a poor 2.94m (13.4%). In the 7pm hour, The One Show had 3.73m (20.9%) and Question Of Sport took 3.12m (15.9%).

ITV1 kept the lead in the 9pm hour with a first-run episode of Wire in the Blood. The crime drama, starring Robson Green, drew an admirable 4.77m (23.1%). On BBC One, Harry & Paul amused 3.12m (14.9%) then a repeat of The Vicar Of Dibley delivered 2.81m (13.8%).

BBC One was back ahead at 10pm as The Ten O'Clock News amassed 4.75m (25.3%). Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, guest-starring David Walliams and Matt Lucas, followed with a strong 3.68m (27.6%). On ITV1, 2.04m (12%) visited Al Murray's Happy Hour.

Once again BBC Two had a solid audience throughout primetime, starting with 1.99m (9.6%) for Mastermind at 8pm. Gardeners' World followed with 2.07m (9.5%) while on Channel 4, A Place In The Sun: Home Or Away had just 1.27m (5.9%) for the hour. It was beaten by Five's Axe Men, with 1.31m (6.1%).

At 9pm, The Tudors brought in 1.94m (9.3%) for BBC Two and on Channel 4, Ugly Betty stabilised at 1.44m (7%). Five's NCIS put in 1.31m (6.4%).

QI interested 1.96m (10.5%) at 10pm, ahead of the 0.92m (5.5%) watching Russell Brand Live on Channel 4 across an hour. Five was once again ahead of C4, drawing 1.28m (7.5%) with Law & Order: SVU.

Hollyoaks had the biggest multichannel audience, with 577,000 (1.4%) for E4 at 7pm. EastEnders was second, drawing 559,000 (3.4%) to BBC Three at 10pm, followed by Home & Away with 545,000 (3.8%) for Fiver at 6.30pm.

ITV3 had a strong 493,000 (2.7%) with its Poirot repeat in the 8pm hour, then at 9pm, sister channel ITV2 ensnared 389,000 (2.5%) for a screening of X2.

Overall in primetime, ITV2 had a share of 1.8%, ahead of Dave's 1.5%, BBC Three's 1.4%, E4's 1.4% and Sky3's 1.4%.

Source: Digital Spy