Soaps Ratings Roundup: April 21

EastEnders took a narrow lead in the soaps ratings clash with Emmerdale last night, according to early figures.

Last night's episode of the Walford soap, which saw the introduction of missing Masood sibling Syed, was watched by 6.02m (29.5%) at 7.30pm.

BBC Three's 10pm repeat added a further 1.2m (6.8%).

Emmerdale's hour-long outing at 7pm, during which Zak returned to the village, averaged 5.81m (30%) overall.

However, during the head-to-head period with EastEnders, the rural soap's ratings slipped to 5.43m (26.6%).

BBC One's transmission of Doctors at 1.45pm, entitled 'Innocence', put in 1.56m (25.3%).

Hollyoaks' second instalment of the week, in which Archie ruined his sister Zoe's film project, took 1.5m (8.6%) at 6.30pm, before E4's first look had 547k (3.3%) at 7pm.

Neighbours' 5.30pm screening on Five brought in 1.46m (11.6%), while Fiver's repeat at 7pm added 280k (1.7%).

Five's daily edition of Home and Away at 6pm, during which Rachel revealed that Roman could have brain damage, was seen by 1.16m (7.3%) at 6pm, then Fiver's first look had 552k (3.6%) 30 minutes later.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional