'Enders' plot strikes blow in soap battle

Tanya and Sean

EastEnders recorded its largest audience of 2008 on Monday thanks to a bury-your-husband-alive storyline.

Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) had a momentary change of heart in the instalment and rescued Max (Jake Wood) from his coffin. She and Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky) buried him in the woods on Friday.

Some 11.4m viewers, or 42.4% of the audience, were watching at 8pm. The BBC One soap's previous high was 11.1m (44.3%) on January 3, a Thursday 7.30pm episode.

The double-bill of Coronation Street could not match its rival, with 10.9m (41%) watching at 7.30pm and 9.9m (36.5%) an hour later. The ITV1 show's best 2008 performance remains higher, though, at 12.8m (52.2%) on January 18.

Later on the two channels were roughly level. Movie Catch Me If You Can drew 4.4m (18.6%) to BBC One from 8.30pm, while 4.4m (17.7%) watched drama The Fixer at 9pm on ITV1.

Elsewhere, Delia continued to perform well with a 3.2m (11.7%) audience for BBC Two at 8.30pm. Addams Family Values, on Channel 4 from 7.20pm, won 1.2m (4.6%) viewers, while 900,000 (3.3%) watched Fifth Gear at 8pm on Five.

> Click here for a recap of Monday's EastEnders episode