Heather's 'EastEnders' shock grabs 8.6m

Heather's devastation over the 'death' of her mystery boyfriend Kevin attracted 8.6 million viewers to EastEnders on Tuesday evening, early figures show.

At 7.30pm, 8.61m (40.6%) watched BBC One as Ben's attempts to fool Heather over the internet went a step too far, leaving her grief-stricken. Later, 1.14m (5.6%) saw the repeat screening on BBC Three at 10pm.

Also on BBC One, the latest episode of Holby City - which saw Dan get competitive with Ric - secured 5.68m (25.3%) at 8pm.

The launch of Derek's rape trial in Emmerdale was witnessed by 6.67m (35.1%) at 7pm, while ITV1+1's airing of the episode took 154k (0.7%).

Meanwhile, Hollyoaks interested 999k (5.5%) at 6.30pm as Warren recruited his friend Rocco to cause more trouble for Riley, before 433k (2.3%) tuned in for E4's first look at the next episode, which saw Mercedes make a shocking confession to Myra.

Over on Channel 5, Sonya's decision to finally tell the truth in Neighbours grabbed 740k (11.6%) at 1.45pm and 1.14m (9.4%) at 5.30pm, while Home and Away mustered 782k (5.0%) at 6pm and 467k (2.6%) for 5*'s first look at the next episode.

Finally, the latest episode of Doctors - titled 'Elaine' - appealed to 1.44m (22.7%) at 1.45pm on BBC One.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional