'Hollyoaks' enjoys bumper ratings on E4

A week of high drama on Hollyoaks brought in huge audiences to E4 as viewers clamoured to see the channel's first-look episodes.

The storyline saw psychopath Niall (Barry Sloane) exact revenge on his mother Myra McQueen (Nicole Barber-Lane), her five daughters and son John Paul (James Sutton) after holding them hostage in a derelict church.

The plot was stripped across the week's five episodes and included several explosive scenes and the death of a key character. E4, which premieres new episodes daily at 7pm, benefited the most from the heightened interest.

Thursday's episode was the most watched of the week, with an average of 1.46m (8.4%) and a further 408,000 (2.2%) on timeshift service E4+1.

Tuesday's episode pulled in 1.24m (7%) and 209,000 (1.1%); Wednesday's instalment was seen by 1.32m (7.6%) and 265,000 (1.4%); and Friday's first-look had 1.15m (6.7%) and 133,000 (0.7%).

Typically, E4's screenings of Hollyoaks average around 800,000 viewers. The audience was up a massive 86% week-on-week.

The audience for the Channel 4 broadcasts was up 19% week-on-week despite the increased viewership for E4. The most-watched episode of the week was Monday's instalment, with 2.11m (10.4%) and 62,000 (0.3%) on timeshift.

> In Pictures: 'Hollyoaks' McQueen death

Ratings data supplied by Attentional