'EastEnders' re-establishes Friday lead over 'Emmerdale'

EastEnders has returned to winning ways against Emmerdale, leading the rural soap for the first Friday in three weeks.

The Albert Square serial's latest instalment, which centred around Phil's desperation over Ben's forthcoming trial, attracted 7.19m - a 32.1% share - for BBC One and 477k (2.9%) for BBC Three's 10.30pm repeat.

At midnight back on BBC One, the soap's weekly catchup Omnibus served an audience of 348k (7.3%) until 1.45am.



Meanwhile, a dramatic episode of Emmerdale drew 6.97m (34.8%) at 7pm for ITV1, adding 157k (0.7%).

Boosted by Sophie Webster's car accident storyline, Coronation Street was the most-watched soap with 8.1m (37.5%) at 7.30pm (+1: 180k/0.8%), and 7.78m (33.9%) for its second edition at 8.30pm (+1: 235k/1.1%).

Elsewhere, 991k (5.2%) watched Jono make a stirring decision in Hollyoaks at 6.30pm, after which E4's first look at Monday's episode grabbed 406k (2%).

Neighbours appealed to an aggregate audience of nearly 1.5m, pulling in 548k (7.5%) at 1.45pm and 918k (6%) at 5.30pm, while Home and Away managed 747k (4.2%) at 6pm and 397k (2.1%) for 5*'s first look.

Finally, an episode of Doctors titled 'Turn' mustered 1.46m (20.3%) in its usual 1.45pm slot on BBC One.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional