Jedward to host new RTÉ show

The Jedward juggernaut rumbles on after it emerged irrepressible twins John and Edward Grimes have been granted a television show on the same day figures reveal their appearance at the Eurovision final was the most watched programme to date this year.

Their performance on Saturday, May 14th, when they finished eighth, attracted 1,182,700 viewers – the only programme to achieve more than a million viewers to date this year.

Their appearance in the semi-final also made the top 10 programmes that have just been released by RTÉ. A total of 780,000 viewers watched the semi-final, making it the seventh most watched programme this year.

RTÉ announced today the twins will be given their own 10 part series OMG! Jedward's Dream Factory. The show, to be broadcast later this year, will be an Irish version of Jim'll Fix It.

The 10-part series will feature in RTÉ's new season schedule for young people, as the brothers aim to fulfil the dreams of eight- to 16-year-olds.

In addition, Jedmania has set in at Dundrum Town Centre where fans are already queuing for the twins’ album signing tomorrow at 10am.

The top 50 programme audiences have been released by RTÉ, which accounts for 48 of them.

There is a strong bias in the top 10 towards current affairs. The Frontline leaders' debate on St Valentine's Day was the second most watched programme with 964,800 viewers. The Prime Time leaders' debate on February 22nd attracted 806,700 viewers and was sixth.

The RTÉ News Nine O'Clock on March 20th was fifth with an audience of 813,300, and the Six-One on March 20th attracted 771,100 viewers and was placed eighth.

The third most watched programme was the episode of Mrs Brown's Boys, a programme the critics loved to hate, broadcast on February 5th and which attracted 924,200 viewers.

The final of the All Ireland Talent Show, which has just been axed by RTÉ, was the 10th most watched programme, with 749,700 viewers. It had the same audience as the episode of Coronation Street broadcast on TV3 on January 3rd that was TV3's top rated programme so far this year.

The only other TV3 programme to make the top 50 was the inaugural episode of Come Dine With Me Ireland, which attracted 512,000 viewers on June 6th.