Two of the most popular British TV soaps went head to head last night as they competed for British television viewers.

Emmerdale launched an hour long episode at 7pm and achieved an average of 6.3 million viewers, while EastEnders drew 7 million.

A spokeswoman for the BBC soap told Digital Spy: “Once again ITV have tried to split the soap audience by scheduling another hour-long episode of Emmerdale.

“Despite having a half-hour lead, Emmerdale failed to stop viewers turning over to EastEnders at 7.30pm.”

She added: “This aggressive scheduling by ITV to knock the EastEnders audience is only spoiling it for the viewers. However, once again, it hasn’t had the effect they desired.”