Over 721,000 viewers tuned in to ‘Fair City’ on Tuesday, November 25th to watch the climax of the domestic abuse storyline between characters Suzanne and Damien. With an average viewership of 489,700 (both Live and VOSDAL) and 31% audience share since Autumn 2010 the soap has increased its average live audience figure by 22,000 compared to last year.
The TAM Ireland Ltd/ Nielsen TAM figures found that the 8-8.30pm broadcast of ‘Fair City’ on Tuesday, November 23rd was higher than those of ‘Eastenders’, ‘Coronation Street’, ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Ros na Run’ on at the same time.
’Fair City’s current main storyline, in which the female character is the aggressor, has been running on the show since September when the first violent scene between Suzanne and Damien was broadcast. Damien’s abuse was revealed to the Carrigstown community last week and the episode on November 23rd saw Suzanne shunned by her neighbours and rejected by her father. In the making over an eighteen month period, the storyline has been researched and developed with key bodies involved in this area such as Amen, Women’s Aid and Stop Seeing Red.
Brigie de Courcy, Executive Producer, Fair City, commented on the figures saying: “We’re delighted with this fantastically strong performance and being number one, particularly given the class and credentials of the soap company we’re keeping! This is down to the talent – of our storywriting team, cast and crew. We’ve done a lot of work in honing our craft and delivering what ultimately makes the difference – stories that really resonate and grip our viewers. Thanks to the audience for their loyalty and interest and we look forward to continuing to deliver great story for our licence fee payers.”
