Frank Butcher takes on ITV's Champions League coverage

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 02-Apr-08, 11:20

LONDON - The funeral of Mike Reid's character Frank Butcher in 'EastEnders' pulled in almost 10m viewers last night and ate into the opening of ITV1's coverage of Manchester United's Champions League match in Rome, which peaked with 8m viewers.

The football, in which United beat AS Roma 2-0, averaged 6.4m viewers and earned an average share of 26.6%, according to unofficial overnight figures.

While it dominated the night's viewing, it was eclipsed early on at 7.30-8pm by 'EastEnders'' figure of 9.7m viewers and 43% share.

More tuned in than usual to watch the funeral of Frank Butcher, originally played by actor Mike Reid who passed away himself last July. The storyline involved the return of former Albert Square favourites Ricky and Bianca.

However, once Frank passed through the crematorium curtains the football took over, particularly in the peak 9pm-10pm slot where BBC One's 'Hotel Babylon' scored just 4.6m with a 19.6% share.

Channel 4's best performance of the night came at 10pm-11pm with 'Shameless'. It was watched by 2.1m, giving it a 11.8% share, compared with ITV1's 2m for 'News at Ten'. Including the ratings for Channel+1 'Shameless' notched up 2.2m viewers and a 12.5% share.

The first look at the following episode of 'Shameless' was shown on E4 at 11pm-12am, amassing 868,000 viewers and a 9.5% share. According to Channel4, E4 achieved a better share of 16- to 34-year-old viewers than BBC Two and Five last night.