Scott & Bailey beats Empire in ratings battle

ITV drama Scott & Bailey starring Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp continued on ITV1 last night with over 6 million viewers. Meanwhile EastEnders and Coronation Street both had strong outings as Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison) was killed off and Frank Foster’s (Andrew Lancel) killer was revealed.

The second episode in the new series of Scott & Bailey had 6.3 million viewers at 9pm last night for ITV1 with an additional 300,000 viewers watching an hour later via the time-shit channel. That gives the episode a combined audience of 6.6 million viewers compared with last week’s combined figure of 7.1 million viewers. Scott & Bailey’s strong performance meant it had the better of Jeremy Paxman documentary series Empire which had 2.9 million viewers. BBC Four drama Dirk Gently, based on the books written by Douglas Adams, continued its first series with just over half a million viewers.

It was a strong night for the two big soaps; Coronation Street and EastEnders. The two titans both aired pivotal episodes as Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel) murderer in Coronation Street was revealed – we won’t spoil it for those who haven’t yet seen the episode.

The 7.30pm outing of Corrie was seen by 10 million viewers with a further 150,000 viewers via the time-shift channel (a combined audience of 10.1 million viewers) while the 8.30pm episode was seen by 10.6 million viewers with a further 270,000 watching an hour later (a combined audience of 10.8 million viewers).

The controversial murder of Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison) in EastEnders at 8pm last night grabbed the attention of 9.1 million viewers. The BBC Three repeat at 10pm was seen by 660,000 viewers giving the episode a combined audience of 9.7 million viewers.