The drama of Mel's kidnap continued in Eastenders

This was against 5.3m, or 30% of the total audience, for EastEnders: It's Your Party, on BBC One between 7 and 8pm.

Friday's broadcast was the first of a new regular fixture for EastEnders, which has been increased from three to four times a week.

But the first-ever head-to-head is unlikely to become a regular occurrence.

Coronation Street had been moved from its usual 7.30pm slot to make way for a special hour-long episode of Emmerdale.

Initially ITV bosses had been furious at the scheduling, accusing the BBC of dirty tricks by engineering the showdown.

But BBC bosses insisted that they had always had their eye on the 8pm slot and had not intentionally set up a clash.

The Street's Tracy Shaw is rival female talent to Tamzin Outhwaite

From next week Coronation Street will return to its usual 7.30pm slot, in which it has been broadcast since 1996.

The National Grid said the head-to-head failed to produce a huge power surge.

But bosses of both dramas made sure that fans had a difficult choice of which one to watch with big storylines in both soaps.

In EastEnders the drama of Mel's kidnap continued as Dan made a ransom demand of �100,000 from both Steve and Phil.

But Corrie hit back with the unfolding story of runaways Roy and Hayley who are avoiding the authorities after bolting to protect their foster son Wayne.

Bookmakers had EastEnders as favourite to win the ratings battle on Friday, largely because of the hype surrounding the extra episode.

The action in Albert Square carried odds of 2/5 compared with 7/4 for the events in Weatherfield.