RTE pleased with high ratings for 'No Tears'

More than 555,000 people tuned in to see the final episode of the hepatitis C drama No Tears last Monday night.

The episode had the lowest rating of the four-part series but it was still one of the most watched programmes on television that night. Questions & Answers, which followed, had just over 315,000 viewers.

The series told the story of women who had contracted hepatitis C from contaminated anti- D injections. It led to hundreds of calls to the support group Positive Action.

Many of these were from women who had not been tested for hepatitis C, although they had received anti-D during high-risk periods.

A Positive Action spokeswoman said it was worrying that so many women had not been targeted in the screening programme. She said its members were very positive about the series and were glad that it had been screened. They felt it would help people understand what they had gone through.

An RTÉ spokeswoman said the station was "very happy" with the ratings. "Monday night's rating represents 40.4 per cent of the people looking at TV at that time on that night," she said. The cast included Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker.

After Fair City and The Late Late Show, the drama was the most watched programme on RTÉ for the week ending January 27th.

RTÉ said there was no more correspondence from the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, Minister for Health at the time, who complained the series was "unfair" to him.