Coronation Street has become the UK's most popular soap

Cab driver Tracy Barlow wrecked the big day by revealing during the service that groom Steve McDonald was the father of her baby.

According to unofficial overnight figures, 15.2 million watched the first episode at 1930 GMT, and 14.6 million saw the next instalment an hour later.

The ITV1 soap, made by Granada, is the most-watched programme on British TV.

Monday's figures fall below the 19.4 million who turned in last year to see the Street's mass murderer Richard Hillman drown.

But they beat the 14 million who watched Kat and Alfie Moon get married in the Christmas Day edition of EastEnders.

Dirty Den's return to Albert Square in September 2003 drew an audience of 16.6 million - 600,000 more than the number who saw Kat Slater ditch her fianc� at the altar in November.

This compares with the 12.5 million who tuned in to watch Coronation Street's first gay kiss in October 2003.

'Tough slot'

Chat show host Johnny Vaughan faced a tough challenge on Monday night when his new BBC Three show, Live at Johnny's, went head to head against BBC One's EastEnders and Five's Back To Reality.

The show drew 30,000 viewers at 2000, attracting another 18,000 with its 2300 repeat.

Johnny Vaughan's show also features ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith

"It's a tough slot, but Johnny's a big enough name to pull it off," she said.

"The idea is to offer an alternative to EastEnders and reality TV, and that's what Johnny is offering."

Over on Five, a guest appearance from I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here winner Kerry McFadden did not stop Back to Reality losing over a million viewers compared with its Sunday night debut.

Monday's early evening edition of the show was watched by 700,000 viewers, compared to the 1.8 million who tuned in to see Sunday's programme.