Soap Awards attendance down 1.2m

The British Soap Awards attracted 4.97m (21.4%) for ITV1 last night, according to early viewing figures.

The show, which aired between 8pm and 10pm and saw EastEnders crowned Best Soap, was seen by 1.2m fewer viewers than last year's Awards, which took 6.13m (28.1%) on May 7, 2008. The previous year, 6.12m (25.9%) tuned in on May 30, 2007.

The Apprentice held up despite going head to head with the ceremony at 9pm. 7.94m (32.5%) tuned in to see Mona Lewis become the latest candidate to be fired by Sir Alan.

The third and final instalment of BBC Two's weather documentary series Winds attracted 1.51m (6.2%), while a lowly 820k (3.4%) watched the last part of Channel 4's Find Me A Family series.

Five was last for the hour with Extraordinary People: Growing Up Without A Face, a show focused on a five-year-old with an extreme form of Treacher Collins syndrome, which put in 770k (3.2%).

Earlier, at 8pm, 3.94m (18.1%) tuned in for the latest visit to Waterloo Road on BBC One, and Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies interested 2.44m (21.4%).

The third episode of BBC Two's Property Watch had 1.42m (6.5%), while Five's Oil Riggers grabbed 675k (3.1%).

Overall, BBC One and ITV1 remained fairly even in primetime, each drawing an average of 23.3%. BBC Two was third with 7.6%, followed by Channel 4 with 6.3% (+1: 0.9%) and Five's 2.8%.

Elsewhere, The British Soap Awards After Party took 530k (3.9%) for ITV2 between 10pm and 11.30pm.

Ratings data supplied by Attentional