Corrie draws a fifth of Irish audience

NEARLY one in five Irish people tuned in to watch Coronation Street’s live episode marking its 50th anniversary.

Thursday night’s hour-long show, which went with barely a hitch, brought the programme its biggest audience for nearly seven years.

The slice of high drama — which left viewers on tenterhooks as the tram crash disaster continued — pulled in 14.9 million viewers at its peak, with an average of 14 million watching throughout.

Peter Fincham, ITV’s director of television, said: “The gripping drama that has played out on Coronation Street this week has been a truly fitting 50th anniversary celebration for the world’s greatest soap and I’m delighted that almost 15 million ITV1 viewers enjoyed the live episode.”

The 65-strong cast delivered a near-seamless performance as show bosses crammed a birth, a death and a wedding into 60 highly charged scenes.

There was barely a fluffed line but eagle-eyed fans pointed out mistakes.

Disabled Izzy Armstrong appeared to stand up out of her wheelchair in one scene and Sally Webster was notably not wearing her requisite hard hat as she braved the rubble to get to Molly.