ITV1 wins Friday ratings battle

ITV1 notched up another ratings win on Friday night with its lineup of soaps and drama.

The channel recorded an average audience share of 24.4% between 7pm and 11pm, compared to BBC One's 19.9% and BBC Two's 8.6%. Channel 4 continued to mourn the loss of Big Brother with an average share of 5.9%, just ahead of Five's 5.5%.

Anchoring early primetime for ITV1 was Coronation Street, which drew audiences of 7.76m (39.5%) at 7.30pm and 7.53m (34.4%) an hour later. Emmerdale had a decent 6.05m (33.9%) at 7pm and at 8pm, a Tonight report on inheritance battles brought in 2.97m (14.2%).

EastEnders was BBC One's top draw, with 6.97m (33.5%) at 8pm. DIY SOS followed at 8.30pm with a poor 2.94m (13.4%). In the 7pm hour, The One Show had 3.73m (20.9%) and Question Of Sport took 3.12m (15.9%).

ITV1 kept the lead in the 9pm hour with a first-run episode of Wire in the Blood. The crime drama, starring Robson Green, drew an admirable 4.77m (23.1%). On BBC One, Harry & Paul amused 3.12m (14.9%) then a repeat of The Vicar Of Dibley delivered 2.81m (13.8%).

BBC One was back ahead at 10pm as The Ten O'Clock News amassed 4.75m (25.3%). Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, guest-starring David Walliams and Matt Lucas, followed with a strong 3.68m (27.6%). On ITV1, 2.04m (12%) visited Al Murray's Happy Hour.

Once again BBC Two had a solid audience throughout primetime, starting with 1.99m (9.6%) for Mastermind at 8pm. Gardeners' World followed with 2.07m (9.5%) while on Channel 4, A Place In The Sun: Home Or Away had just 1.27m (5.9%) for the hour. It was beaten by Five's Axe Men, with 1.31m (6.1%).

At 9pm, The Tudors brought in 1.94m (9.3%) for BBC Two and on Channel 4, Ugly Betty stabilised at 1.44m (7%). Five's NCIS put in 1.31m (6.4%).

QI interested 1.96m (10.5%) at 10pm, ahead of the 0.92m (5.5%) watching Russell Brand Live on Channel 4 across an hour. Five was once again ahead of C4, drawing 1.28m (7.5%) with Law & Order: SVU.

Hollyoaks had the biggest multichannel audience, with 577,000 (1.4%) for E4 at 7pm. EastEnders was second, drawing 559,000 (3.4%) to BBC Three at 10pm, followed by Home & Away with 545,000 (3.8%) for Fiver at 6.30pm.

ITV3 had a strong 493,000 (2.7%) with its Poirot repeat in the 8pm hour, then at 9pm, sister channel ITV2 ensnared 389,000 (2.5%) for a screening of X2.

Overall in primetime, ITV2 had a share of 1.8%, ahead of Dave's 1.5%, BBC Three's 1.4%, E4's 1.4% and Sky3's 1.4%.

> Click here to see last Friday's ratings