I remember that period very well. EastEnders started okay in 1985 but tailed off as it faced Emmerdale and the curiosity wore off. Then Michael Grade moved EastEnders to 7.30pm. Emmerdale were saying EastEnders was running scared but it was a very shrewd decision. Free from Emmerdale, less competition, similar to Corrie scheduling at 7.30pm on a weeknight so Corrie viewers could potentially get into a similar routine of watching EE at 7.30pm. It also had one big trump card to play. The 'Who was the father of Michelle Fowler's baby?' storyline. That built in Autumn then came the big reveal as Den being the father. That really helped and then the following year woah Nellie! Den & Angie's divorce papers on Christmas Day a storyline a year in the making, along with Arthur Fowler's mental breakdown.

Interesting ITV debate on twitter so far 127000 tweets,Big Bro 65000 tweets.Normally BB would be the Number one on launch night.Not sure what that will translate to ratings.

Do you have a link for this please?

Taken from an article in Broadcast magazine (20 September 1985) by William Phillips:

"In Scotland and East Anglia, Emmerdale Farm still leads into News at 5.45; elsewhere it has a 19.00 start. Until this month EastEnders was pitched directly against Emmerdale Farm in most areas. My chart shows how the Square's average audiences for first transmissions have held up since its launch, compared with the Street and the Farm. Taking each show's average audience in EastEnders' debut week as 100, all have fallen seasonally since February. Until late May, EastEnders fell furthest: the expected pattern for a new soap, which many sample and reject in early weeks. But since late July, Albert Square has recovered well. By mid-August it was almost back to premiere week ratings, unlike the Farm. Hence the silly season excitement. Only look a little closer. During most of this period, the average first run half hour of the Square has won only 50 to 60 per cent as many viewers as the Farm, 45 to 55 per cent as many as the Motel (which got a new look this Spring) and up to half as many viewers as the Street. The ratios are consistent: TV audiences are regular in their habits and their loyalties alter only very gradually. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, EastEnders was getting around six million, compared with 15 million for Coronation Street. But EastEnders' Sunday omnibus audience fluctuated between four million and seven million, which BARB added to its tally. Come August, the Square appeared to be closing on the Street. Why the sudden surge of viewers for EastEnders? Look no further than the competition. Emmerdale Farm has been screening "golden moments" in most regions to let others, including London, catch up with the plot: the whole ITV network will see the same storyline from this month. Naturally some viewers switched to EastEnders in August, to try something fresh. In the first fortnight of the Farm retreads, EastEnders jumped from 6.6 million to 7.9 million then 8.7 million. Meanwhile the Square's omnibus repeat faced a weak ITV Sabbath afternoon mixture: old movies, documentaries, educational stuff about Northern Ireland. The EastEnders omnibus audience increased from four to five million to five to six million. Add these together, BARB-fashion, and in the week ended September 1, Tuesday's EastEnders "beat" the Street, 15.4 million to 15.1 million. Hogwash - but let us not denigrate the BBC's first true soap for 16 years. It has done well to establish a bridgehead clientele of maybe 7.5 million on weeknights. Its summer surge bodes well for this month's shift to 19.30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which for years have been among ITV's weakest primetime spots".

Tbh the ITV EU debate started trending like 13 hours before BB.

Either way.

Debate- 3.0m
Big brother- 1.5m

Personally.

I hope everyone is preparing themselves that ITV could have the highest ratings at 9pm on a Tuesday without them showing Corrie/BGT, IAC or Football. I don't think anything else has had the highest rating in that slot

Politics always trends highly on Twitter. Question Time is right up there every single week.

BB will bomb 100% - but I don't expect the ITV debate did much better.

Id guess that Big brothers launch will get around 1.3million. It really is on its last legs...

ITV's live debate will be under 3m. I'm thinking 2.2m.

Big Brother will be 1m inc+1.

People always moan after launch, i think it's an OK cast. I never judge BB after a first show.

But it's obvious the interest is only really there for CBB.

COOKERY: Celebrity MasterChef
On: BBC 1 Wales (101)
Date: Wednesday 22nd June 2016 (starting in 14 days)
Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (1 hour long)

Some famous faces are judged on their passion for food in a search for the country's top celebrity chef.
(4 Star)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=333986

Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

Surely, surely the first primetime debate on a mainstream channel about arguably the biggest question this country has faced in a generation will score a minimum of 4million? Surely...?!

BB will bomb, probably be around 1.2m

It wasn't the first. BBC1 had one a fortnight ago and it only averaged 2 million. I'd imagine last night will have done around the same. Thursday's 2 hour debate could be a ratings car crash but I'm glad they're doing it.

The first one was against BGT. Last night it was against In The Club

Robin Parker ‏@robinparker55 2m2 minutes ago
ITV's DC v NF EU debate won the 9pm slot with 4.1m last night

That's very good, especially on a Tuesday!

Overnights.tv ‏@overnightstv 23s23 seconds ago
#Springwatch captured 2.3m/13% to come second in 8pm slot @ChrisGPackham @MartinHGames http://www.overnights.tv

Big Brother: 1.39m (7.7%) exc +1

That many?

Well I got that one wrong. Personally couldn't think of anything less appealing than an hour of two of the least trustworthy politicians around trying to convince the remaining undecideds that they know best.

Oh wow, that's awful.

Around 1.6m incl then.

That many? Thought it would be even lower than that personally.

Still, going to be a LONG summer for C5.

I was thinking maybe it was weather related, but it has to be the 'love island' type cast this year, other house (which is basically secret task room to be used for a couple of weeks0, and the typical nominated for no reason on live launch.

BBC1
EastEnders: 5.93m (34.8%)
Holby City: 4.11m (22.8%)
BBC News (10pm): 3.66m (21.2%)

ITV's News at Ten: 2.05m EXCLUDING HD / exc +1

BBC2
Springwatch: 2.34m (13.0%)
Horizon: Why Are We Getting So Fat?: 1.48m (7.3%)
Antiques Road Trip (Repeat): 1.29m (7.8%)