Tragedy unfolds in Weatherfield
Last night’s Coronation Street one hour 50th anniversary live episode attracted a whopping 14.027 million viewers on ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 52.1 per cent share of all British TV viewers as the show broadcast between 8pm and 9pm.
631,000 of that number chose to tune into the carnage on the cobbles in glorious high definition.
These impressive ratings made the television spectacular the most watched episode of Coronation Street in seven years.
The show reported a five minute peak of 14,9 million, a 53 per cent audience share – according to ITV - as the episode neared its conclusion.
A further two million Corrie fans tuned in to watch a full repeat of the show at 10.35pm on ITV1, making the combined average audience for the episode on the night over 16 million.
The soap’s 50th anniversary week began with a ratings bang when 12.9 million people watched Monday night’s tram crash catastrophe unold in Weatherfield.
Peter Fincham, ITV’s Director of Television said: ‘The gripping drama that has played out on Coronation Street this week has been a truly fitting 50th anniversary celebration for the world’s greatest soap and I’m delighted that almost 15 million ITV1 viewers enjoyed last night’s live episode.
’It is testament to the fantastic work of a hugely talented production team and some of the nation’s finest actors, that 50 years on from that first episode created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street remains the UK’s most popular serial drama.’
