Live EastEnders watched by nearly 17m

Nearly 17m people tuned in to Friday's live 25th anniversary edition of EastEnders as Archie Mitchell's killer was finally revealed.

According to the BBC viewing figures peaked at 16.6m during the episode, in which Stacey Branning confessed to the crime and averaged 15.6m throughout. A further 1.4m viewers tuned in to the repeat on BBC Three later in the evening.

However the figures are overnight ratings and do not take in to account those who may have recorded the episode to watch later, or those watching on the BBC iPlayer.

The show featured 51 cast members who had been rehearsing for three days and culminated in Stacey dramatically revealing to Max that she had killed Archie in the Queen Vic on Christmas Day.

It also saw th departure of Bradley Branning, played by actor Charlie Clements, who fell to his death off a roof in Albert Square while trying to escape arrest for the crime.

EastEnders' executive producer Diederick Santer said, "These numbers go far beyond what we ever hoped for.

"I am so proud of our cast and crew for their incredible performance last night. This rating is the icing on our silver anniversary cake."

The BBC also said that 4.3m viewers switched over to BBC Three after the live show had ended to watch EastEnders Live: The Aftermath, which featured interviews with cast and crew from the set.

Actor Larry Lamb, who played Archie, also appeared on the show and admitted he was shocked at the identity of the killer. "I thought it was Ronnie," he said.

The viewing figures make the show the most watched programme of 2010 thus far. EastEnders' New Year's Day episode featuring the Masood wedding, had previously been the most watched show of 2010 to date with figures of 12.3m.

The biggest EastEnders audience ever came in 1986, when 30.15m tuned in to the Christmas Day episode to see Den Watts present Angie with divorce papers.