'Coronation Street' Alzheimer's plot draws in 8.4m

A morally complex love triangle on Coronation Street kept soap viewers glued to their screens on Friday evening.

Eileen Grimshaw, played by Sue Cleaver, received a second shock about Paul in a storyline that has drawn praise from an Alzheimer's charity. The first episode in the ITV1 double bill drew 8.4m viewers (38.3%), along with an extra 135k (0.6%) on timeshift.

The follow-up, which saw Amber make a move on Sophie, retained 8.13m (33.8%), but upped the timeshift audience to 146k (0.6%).

Elsewhere on ITV1, Emmerdale grabbed 6.83m (33.1%) at 7pm as Nikhil gave Gennie a bad job reference, leaving her furious.

On BBC One's EastEnders, 8.13m (34.5%) saw Greg's return to Albert Square, with a further 650k (3.2%) catching up at 10pm on BBC Three. The broadcaster's afternoon soap, Doctors, scored 1.56m (21.6%) with an episode titled 'The Power of Nightmares'.

Hollyoaks pulled in 1.1m (5.5%) for Channel 4 as Mercedes' plight continued, and E4's ever popular first look nabbed 598k (2.9%) straight after.

Channel 5's Neighbours summoned 683k (9.4%) for its lunch hour showing, but boosted its figures to 1.12m (7%) later on as Tash discovered that she has an aunt. Home and Away fared marginally worse, with 822k (4.5%) tuning in to see Casey's expulsion from school.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional