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BBC One’s coverage of the wedding, live from Windsor’s Guildhall and then from within the walls of the town’s Castle for the official blessing, was soon eclipsed by the channel’s traditional focus on the annual Grand National horserace.

The race, which was delayed for television coverage of the royal wedding, proved its value in the ratings, with 7.7 million viewers commanding over half the available audience from 3.30pm.

The poor rating for the royal newlyweds was in stark contrast to that of the other big wedding of the week – between Deirdre and Ken in Coronation Street, which secured a massive 56.6% share of the vote as they tied the knot for the second time.

The 12 million eager fans of the Street’s best-known couple that watched the wedding were also treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the history of their relationship, although this proved less enticing with just 4.2 million staying hooked to ITV1 on Friday night.

ITV1’s triumph with Coronation Street was short-lived by Saturday as its battle against BBC One’s Doctor Who continued.

The third episode of the Christopher Eccleston-fronted kitsch drama beat off competition from the grinning Geordies, Ant & Dec, once again.

Doctor Who scored 8.3 million viewers at 7pm, while ITV1’s Saturday Night Takeaway clinched 7.1 million, an uplift 1.1 million from the previous week but still over 4% less in audience share.

Luckily for ITV1 its Sunday night prime time offering brought some joy back to the channel as its 1960’s nostalgia cop offering Heartbeat and a one-off drama Malice Aforethought, starring Ben Miller and Barbara Flynn, clinched 8.5 million and 6.8 million viewers respectively.

But the poor run of form in the ratings for BBC One’s period drama Fingersmith continued on Sunday, as just 3.8 million viewers tuned in for its grand finale.

BBC Two’s blanket coverage of the US Masters gold tournament brought some joy to channel’s schedulers throughout the weekend.

Live action from Augusta over Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s prime time slots was watched by 1.8 million, 1.5 million and 2.4 million viewers, clinching a share high of 11.7% on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Channel 4’s premiere of Tom Cruise-vehicle Vanilla Sky, also starring Penelope Cruz, was watched by 2.3 million viewers, an 11.8% share of the audience.

It’s Sunday night offering was limited to a two-hour formulaic documentary, I’ll Do Anything To Get On TV, bringing in 1.9 million viewers from 9pm.

Canny scheduling for Five brought much relief to the channel on Saturday and Sunday, after a dreary run in the ratings during the week.

The latest from the CSI:NY team was watched by 2.8 million viewers on Saturday night, while the Gary Oldman/Harrison Ford action fest in Air Force One clinched a respectable 14.4% share of the audience and 2.9 million viewers.

By Kevin May