'Fair City' beats Corrie, 'Enders in Ireland

Long-running Irish soap Fair City has been beating its UK rivals Coronation Street and EastEnders in the ratings at home this year.

The RTÉ One drama currently has 50,000 more viewers than Corrie and 65,000 more fans than EastEnders in Ireland, the Evening Herald reports.

It is thought that controversial storylines and surprise plot twists have helped the programme build its audience in recent months. Last night, a massive blast on the show left the lives of Carrigstown residents hanging in the balance.

An RTÉ spokesperson explained: "The year-to-date average figures show that Fair City has an average audience of 465,000 and an average share of 34%.

"EastEnders has an average audience of 400,000 and average share of 31.8% and Coronation Street has an average audience of 415,000 and average share of 31%.

"This proves that Fair City is still Ireland's number one popular soap and home produced soap, beating both Coronation Street and EastEnders."

Fair City celebrated its 20th anniversary last month.