17 million tuned in to watch big day

RECORD viewing figures made Harry and Meghan’s wedding the TV event of the year so far. It was watched by a peak of 13.1million just after 1pm on BBC1, making it the biggest peak figure so far in 2018, the broadcaster said. ITV’s coverage peaked at 3.6million.

The combined average audience for BBC and ITV was around 11million. But this was lower than the figure for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding in 2011, which had a combined audience of 17.6million – although this included people watching on catch-up. Charles and Diana’s wedding was watched by more than 28million in 1981.

Saturday’s FA Cup Final averaged 6.7million viewers and peaked at 8.7million on BBC1.