U.K. SOAP GARNERS A 43-PERCENT AUDIENCE SHARE

The British primetime soap opera Coronation Street, which debuted in 1960, attracted 44 percent of the entire British television audience Monday night for an episode in which it was revealed that a prominent character had murdered her son. The show was broadcast on ITV in two half-hour segments. The first, at 7:30 p.m.; the second at 8:30 p.m. The overnight ratings figures indicated that 10.2 million viewers tuned in to the first half-hour; while 10.3 million watched the second. Nevertheless, ratings for the soap, currently the longest-running in the world, are down significantly from their peak between 1960 and 1990, when they frequently hit more than 20 million viewers (the record was set on Christmas Day of 1987 with 28.5 million viewers). Monday’s figure ties one set in December 2008; the previous high was set in April 2007 with an episode that was watched by 12.6 million viewers.