Ratings Roundup: 'Dad' draws 5.2 million

Alzheimer's Disease drama Dad pulled in over 5 million viewers last night, according to early figures.

The programme, starring Richard Briers, averaged 5.19 million viewers and a 21% share of the audience between 8pm and 9.30pm on BBC One.

It held its own against another strong drama lineup from ITV1, which began at 7pm with 10 million (45.9%) for Emmerdale. Special episodes of The Bill at 8pm and 10pm pulled in 7.78 million (31.4%) and 6.39 million (31.6%) respectively, surrounding a new Fat Friends, which had 7.13 million (30.4%) in the 9pm hour.

Top programme of the night went to EastEnders, which enjoyed an audience of 11.58 million (49%) - albeit down yet again from Tuesday's 12.17 million.

Channel 4's The Real Exorcist possessed 1.71 million (9.8%) in the 10pm hour while on Five, live UEFA coverage of the game between Middlesbrough and AK Graz drew an average of 1.77 million (7.4%).

Over on multichannel, the top draw was ITV2's UEFA coverage of Newcastle vs
Heerenveen, which averaged 701,000 (4.5%) from 7pm. A new episode of ER was predictably successful for E4, with 622,000 (4%) at 9pm and 208,000 (1.7%) more an hour later on the timeshift channel.

In the 8pm hour, a new Charmed pulled in 514,000 (3.2%) for LivingTV. Sky One's Cold Case could only manage 322,000 (2.1%) at 9pm, but was still more than the 238,000 (1.5%) who opted for Broadway: The American Musical on BBC Four at the same time.

Classic repeats proved they are still worth their weight, meanwhile, with UKTV Gold's Fawlty Towers amusing 230,000 (1.4%) at 9pm. On ITV3, Rising Damp was the channel's most-watched programme of the day with 230,000 (1.7%) at 10pm.

Among the daytime soaps, Neighbours attracted healthy numbers with 3.16 million (39.8%) and 3.4 million (20.2%) for its lunchtime and evening showings respectively. Doctors put in 2.54 million (34.7%) for BBC One at 2pm, while C4's Hollyoaks drew 2.38 million (11.1%) at 6.30pm, easily thrashing Five's Family Affairs, which had just 1.02 million (4.8%) at the same time. Aussie soap Home & Away averaged 1.84 million (9%) for its 6pm episode.

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com