TELEVISION:

MOST VIEWEDTake a peek inside to discover some of the UK’s most viewed shows, films and one-off events ever to hit the small screen.

There are some surprises!

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top telly:Eastenders takes up 1st and 2nd place

(as well as 5th, 7th and 10th!)

in the top shows ever watched.

1st, with 30.15m viewers, came on Christmas Day 1986 when Den divorced Angie. Poor Ange.

2nd, with 28m viewers, came just 6 days later when Michelle Fowler revealed she was pregnant! What a week on the square, eh?!

With Eastenders topping, it will come as no surprise that Corrie comes a

close second. Well... third.

26.65m people tuned in a year to the day of Den divorcing Angie as they said goodbye to Hilda Ogden on Christmas Day 1987.

Eastenders

Coronation Street

TV FACTOID:Television was first abbreviated

to TV in 1948.

The 1965 Royal Variety Performance saw Shirley Bassey, Peter Cook and

Dudley Moore take to the stage.

It was performed in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh and was witnessed by a massive 24.2m viewers.

The Time On Our Hands episode was the final of the 1996 Christmas Trilogies.

To those who’ve been living under a yellow three wheeler all their life, this is the episode where Del Boy and Rodney finally strike it lucky, with 24.35m viewers witnessing the moment they become millionaires.

Royal VarietyPerformance

Only Fools and Horses

QUOTE from C. P. Scott, 1936:“Television? The word is half Greek and half

Latin. No good will come of this device.”

Everyone remembers when Madeline Hartog-Bel won the 1967 Miss World

Contest, don’t they?

You were probably watching it, that’s why - along with the rest of the 23.76m viewers.

Cast your mind back... have you cast it? Excellent.

Well in 1979, 23.95m viewers sat around their TV set to watch the finale of season 1 of this 70s classic.

Miss World 1967

To The Manor Born

TV FACTOID:The first couple ever to be shown in bed

together were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

top films:

Way back in 1980 23.5m viewers sat down together

(not in one place though, obviously)

and watched James Bond stuff Kananga’s mouth with an exploding gas bullet and quip the fantastic line:

“He always did have an inflated opinion of himself.”

They’re going to need a bigger audience...

to reach the top spot.

A year later in 1981, Jaws scored 23.25 million viewers, six years after its original release in 1975.

ITV takes the crown for the top 4 film viewings ever on terrestrial TV...

let’s find out what makes the chart.

Live and Let Die Jaws

QUOTE from Groucho Marx:“I find television very educating. Every time somebody

turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”

Shaken and not-third, this is James Bond’s personal third entry in the top

4 with Diamonds Are Forever.

This was viewed by an impressive 22.15m viewers in 1981, only pipped by Jaws in terms of viewing figures for the whole year.

Well Bond’s done it again.

Only 2 years after 007 scored the most viewed film ever aired on television, The Spy Who Loved Me climbed to the third most watched, with 22.9m viewers in 1982.

Diamonds Are Forever

The Spy Who Loved Me

TV FACTOID:The first inter-racial kiss was in 1968 on Star Trek between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols.

top events:

They think it’s all over...well it isn’t, we’re only on the 7th slide.

But as you may expect, the only time the England football team managed to reach the World Cup Final, the country got behind them in force.

32.3m people to be precise.

Everyone seems to remember where they were when they heard the news of

Diana’s death.

32.1m people knowing precisely where they were when the funeral was aired in 1997.

Incidentally, a documentary from 1969, about the Royal Family, came in at 3rd with 30.69m

viewers.

Funeral ofPrincess Diana

FIFA World Cup Final1966

TV FACTOID:The average UK citizen has 29 hours of TV

recorded on their digital hard-drive.

Just 12 days after the splashdown, 28.49m people watched Chelsea’s FA

Cup Final replay with Leeds Utd.

This was the first final replay since 1912. A bit of a landmark, but did people even leave the house in April 1970?

Scoring more viewers than Apollo 11’s moon landing mission,

28.6m people saw the less-than-plain-sailing Apollo 13 mission splashdown back on terra firma. Well... terra..water .

Chelsea vs Leeds UtdFA Cup Final Replay

Apollo 13 Splashdown

TV FACTOID:95% of UK households have a TV set.

Around half of the country sat down in 1981 and watched the moment Prince Charles and

Lady Diana tied the knot.

The 28.4m viewers witnessed a who’s who of royals with attendants such as Winston Churchill’s great-granddaughter amongst the cavalcade of aristocratic guests.

These royals don’t half take up a lot of the box...

27.6m viewers saw Princess Anne and Mark Phillips joined in matrimony in 1973.

Wedding ofCharles and Diana

Wedding ofPrincess Anne and Mark Phillips

TV FACTOID:The average viewer spends 3 hours and 52

minutes a day watching television!

Thanks for joining Electronic World on a journey through some of TV’s

most viewed events.

You’d best prepare yourself for the next water-cooler event by trekking over to our website and setting yourself up with a television set up, eh?

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Let’s make the rest of those millions green with envy:

www.electronicworldtv.co.uk