Coronation Street: Millions say goodbye to Deirdre Barlow

Liz McDonald and Ken Barlow carried Deirdre's coffin out of church to the strains of Feeling Good

Almost 8 million people tuned in to say goodbye to Coronation Street's Deirdre Barlow on Monday, following the death of actress Anne Kirkbride.

Two poignant episodes saw the street come to standstill as a funeral procession took Deirdre to her final resting place.

An average audience of 7.6 million watched the first episode, peaking at 7.9 million, overnight figures suggest.

Kirkbride died in January, aged 60, following a battle with cancer.

Her character was one of the longest-running in the soap's history, having made her first appearance in 1972.

Humour and tears

The most affecting moment of the funeral was a five-minute eulogy from Deirdre's husband Ken (William Roache) - which he abandoned mid-way through to speak from the heart.

"She was a friend, a neighbour, a mother and a grandmother, a confidante," he said. "She was a woman who spent most of her life in one street. A lynchpin of the community.

"Her family were her priority. To Deirdre, family was family and that was that."

Reminding everyone of her "booming, life-affirming laugh", Ken reduced the mourners to tears.

Actress Kirkbride died in January

Deirdre's coffin was then carried out of the church to Nina Simone's Feeling Good; while many viewers said they were moved to tears by the cast's rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Earlier, Ken had harsh words for his step-daughter, Tracy, who fled the church mid-funeral after he accused her of shedding "crocodile tears" for Deirdre.

But the show also incorporated some of its trademark humour.

When Liz McDonald described Deirdre as "my best friend", Eileen Grimshaw replied: "I thought I was your best mate?"

"Well... you are now," said Liz.

Characters also shared their memories of Deirdre

Writer Damon Rochefort had also used the double-bill to explore the soap's ongoing storylines.

The episodes were warmly received by fans, who paid compliments to the cast and crew on Twitter.

"Deirdre funeral was beautifully filmed," said Laura. "Wonderful words from Bill and beautiful acting. Must [have been] difficult to film."

Natasha Wilson added: "Ken Barlow's just broke me heart in to a trillion pieces."

"Watching the funeral of a fictional character knowing that the actress who played her has died," tweeted Jan Silverman. "Not sure who I was crying for."

"The wobbly rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water has finished me off," agreed Maya Anaokar.

Several Coronation Street cast members praised Rochefort's script, including Samia Ghadie (Maria Connor), Beverley Callard (Liz McDonald) and Sally Ann Matthews (Jenny Bradley), who observed: "You did her proud."

The writer replied that he was "very honoured to have written both eps of Corrie tonight", adding "it was a lovely send off."

The cast had to relive Kirkbride's own funeral, which took place in January

The second episode of the double-bill was seen by an average audience of 7.6 million, with a peak of 7.8 million.

It fell short of the series' biggest audience of the year - which was recorded in January, when 8.7 million tuned in to see a mini-bus crash, which affected several of the show's major characters.

That figure rose to 9.72m once on-demand and catch-up figures where included. A similar effect is likely to be seen for the funeral episodes.