New 'Waterloo Road' term begins with 4.9m

Waterloo Road returned with a strong audience on Wednesday night, the latest overnight data has revealed.

Debuts for Robson Green and Mark Benton in an episode which saw Karen Fisher (Amanda Burton) deal with a school pupil abandoning her baby was seen by 4.91 million (22.8%) at the earlier time of 7.30pm - representing an 800k increase on the number that watched last month's series six finale.

However, Emmerdale still easily topped the soap ratings chart with 6.69m (35.2%) at 7pm for the jury's shock verdict on village rapist Derek.

Meanwhile, 952k (5.2%) watched Mercedes make a confession in Hollyoaks at 6.30pm (+1: 126k), after which E4's first look fetched 370k (2%).

Elsewhere, a Doctors instalment titled 'Lord Letheridge' attracted 1.28m (21.4%) at 1.45pm, ahead of Neighbours which had 674k (11.2%) for its lunchtime showing. A healthier 1.21m (9.7%) watched the Ramsay Street serial at 5.30pm.

Home and Away logged 724k (4.6%) at 6pm as Xavier's lies continued, then 5*'s first look at the next episode grabbed 439k (2.5%).

> Click here for a full roundup of last night's TV ratings

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional