Friday soap ratings suffer from Olympics fever, weather

Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks posted its lowest ever figures yesterday, becoming the victim of a combination of hot weather and Olympics fever.



Friday's episode of the teen serial, focusing on Doug's continued turmoil over his sexuality, logged 510k (3.2%) at 6.30pm.

However, E4's first look at 7pm grabbed 321k (1.7%) - over 60% of the audience watching Channel 4's earlier edition.

Bosses expect Hollyoaks' ratings to rebound - in line with the other affected soaps - next week after the Olympics conclude.

With EastEnders off air due to London 2012, Coronation Street quietly strolled to another soap ratings victory with 5.49m (26.9%) at 7.30pm (+1: 148k/0.6%) and 5.61m (24.5%) at 8.30pm (+1: 224k/1%).

Emmerdale - also affected by the heat and the summer Games - dipped to a new two-month low of 4.61m (23.7%) at 7pm (+1: 228k/1.1%) for an episode which saw Alex and Moira succumb to their passion.

Neighbours achieved an aggregated audience of 1.3m, as the Australian soap pulled in 571k (7.9%) for Channel 5 at 1.45pm, and 713k (5.8%) at 5.30pm.

Meanwhile, Home and Away's classic instalments continued with 164k (1.1%) and 153k (0.9%) on 5* in the 6pm hour.