National Television Awards 2013 dazzle 5.6m on Wednesday

The National Television Awards was popular once again for ITV this year, attracting almost 5.6 million viewers.



Hosted by Dermot O'Leary, the star-studded ITV ceremony averaged 5.58m (22.5%) between 7.30pm and 10pm, appealing to a further 294,000 on +1.

However, the National TV Awards shed 800k on last year's showing, and lost out to David Attenborough's Africa which commanded 5.81m (22.4%) in the 9pm hour.

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off's penultimate edition fared well with 3.94m (15.8%) for BBC Two in the 8pm hour, proving more popular than BBC One's Food Inspectors which was only capable of mustering 3.5m (14.1%).

Celebrity Big Brother turned the tables on One Born Every Minute with 1.84m (7.6%) tuning in for the Channel 5 reality show from 9pm (+1: 225k) versus 1.77m for the Channel 4 factual series which added 333k on timeshift.

Overall, ITV won primetime with 22.2% (+1: 1.3%) against BBC One's 19.1%. BBC Two followed in third place with 7%, ahead of Channel 5's 5% (+1: 0.4%), and Channel 4's 4.6% (+1: 0.9%).

ITV denies 'fixing' Coronation Street's NTA victory



ITV has defended its scheduling of Wednesday evening's (January 23) Coronation Street episode following claims of a National Television Awards 'fix'.

A report in The Mirror today (January 25) suggests that BBC insiders have criticised ITV for shifting Corrie to a 7pm slot on Wednesday, allowing the Weatherfield soap to air directly before the live NTAs broadcast at 7.30pm.

Voting for the 'Most Popular Serial Drama' category remained open throughout the live show, meaning that Coronation Street was fresh in viewers' memories in the final stages. Corrie - which has regularly topped the soap ratings in the past 12 months - took home the top prize on the night, beating BBC rival EastEnders.

Emmerdale usually transmits in Wednesday's 7pm slot on ITV, but its regular instalment was merged into an hour-long episode which aired the previous evening.

A BBC insider told the newspaper: "It seems ITV will stop at nothing to win NTAs. The stars tweet reminding people to vote - then they put a big Corrie episode on moments before the show starts. It is such an obvious tactic and not the first time they have played unfairly when it comes to the NTAs."

However, an ITV source responded by saying: "These claims of a fix are just sour grapes. The best soap won and our ratings are better than EastEnders' too, averaging 9.2 million."

An official statement from ITV denied any ulterior motive for the scheduling change, insisting that viewers "expect" to see Corrie on Wednesdays.

The network said: "Last year Coronation Street was broadcast on Monday, Thursday and Friday but in 2013, it is going out on a Wednesday. Viewers expect to see it midweek, which is why it was rescheduled to 7pm to make way for the NTAs."

Corrie actor Alan Halsall (Tyrone Dobbs) won the 'Serial Drama Performance' prize on the night, while EastEnders' David Witts (Joey Branning) was named 'Most Popular Newcomer'.