Soaps

'Coronation Street' Betty Williams send-off seen by 8.5m

Published Saturday, Apr 21 2012, 10:13 BST | By Daniel Kilkelly | 26 comments

Coronation Street was the most-watched soap on Friday evening (April 20) as Weatherfield's residents paid their last respects to Betty Williams.

The ITV1 show pulled in 8.47m (39.4%) at 7.30pm and 131k (0.6%) on +1 as the locals prepared for Betty's funeral, while 7.9m (33.6%) returned at 8.30pm and 310k (1.4%) on timeshift as the mourners gathered at Betty's wake.

Silence descends upon Coronation Street as Betty's funeral cortege departs and the residents look on

Gordon is touched to see how important his mum was to people as mourners flood into Betty's wake

EastEnders, meanwhile, attracted 7.78m (34.9%) at 8pm as Ben schemed to get Shirley out of the picture. BBC Three's repeat screening secured 653k (3.4%) at 10pm.

Emmerdale appealed to 6.74m (34.5%) at 7pm with Sandy returning home to face Ashley, adding 128k (0.6%) on +1.

Hollyoaks interested 898k (4.9%) at 6.30pm on Channel 4 as Jacqui faced opposition over her desire to help Phoebe, while 418k (2.1%) saw E4's first look at 7pm.

Over on Channel 5, Neighbours grabbed 746k (10.4%) at 1.45pm and 937k (6.1%) at 5.30pm, while Home and Away managed 770k (4.4%) at 6pm and 505k (2.7%) for 5*'s first look at 6.30pm.

Elsewhere, the latest episode of Doctors - titled 'Echo Chamber' - was seen by 1.65m (23.2%) at 1.45pm on BBC One.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional