Bad Girls puts in good performance on return to ITV1

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 14-Jul-06, 11:15

LONDON - The eighth series of prison drama 'Bad Girls' locked down 5.1m viewers and a 25% audience share when it returned to ITV1 last night at 9pm.

The show introduced a new deputy governor played by former 'LA Law' actor Amanda Donahoe and the new character of prison officer Donny played by former 'EastEnders' star Sid Owen, and topped ITV 1's evening ratings according to unofficial overnights.

'EastEnders' on BBC One recorded a new ratings low when it slumped to 3.9m, or a 23% share of the total audience at 7.30pm. It was challenged by a resurgent 'Emmerdale' on ITV1, which achieved an average audience of 6.6m and a 41% share of audience for an hour-long episode from 7pm. The episode featured Matthew and Sadie's engagement.

This was followed by ITV1's game show 'Pokerface' with Ant and Dec, which achieved its highest ratings to date with 4.9m viewers and a 28% share of total audience, leading up to 'Bad Girls'.

'EastEnders' was followed by reality show 'Only Fools on Horses', jumping from 3.8m viewers on Tuesday night to 4.1m viewers and a 20% share last night.

On ITV1, 'Love Island' at 10pm underwent a slight fall on the previous night's figure of 2.1m, pulling in 2m viewers to the paradise island of Fiji when it followed 'Bad Girls', while Channel 4 rival 'Big Brother' drew in 4.9m viewers to the house, achieving a 27% share.

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