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Love Island smashes ratings records but still couldn’t beat ITV’s Princess Diana documentary

Ratings hit: the finale of Love Island broke records for the show: ITV
Ratings hit: the finale of Love Island broke records for the show: ITV

Love Island topped off a stellar series with another record-breaking show, but the 2017 finale still couldn’t beat ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.

It was a big evening for the broadcaster with two huge shows going head-to-head - the finale of the third series of its hit ITV2 dating series and the Diana special documentary with Princes William and Harry.

Despite this year’s Love Island finale being the biggest yet, with 2.6 million viewers tuning in, double that of last year’s closing show and the channel's highest overnight audience ever, it still couldn’t best the royally-endorsed Diana film.

The programme which saw William and Harry discussing their childhood with their mother Diana and their grief after her loss pulled in 7.4 million viewers.

Love Island series three has been a smash hit for ITV, with the most-popular episode drawing 3.8 million viewers across platforms, which represented just under an 80 per cent increase on last year’s series.

The broadcaster has already confirmed that the dating show will return for a fourth series in 2018 and would-be contestants can apply to be on the show via the ITV2 website.

There were difficult decisions to be made for TV fans, as not only were the two ITV shows scheduled at the same time, the second instalment of Game of Thrones also aired at 9pm over on Sky Atlantic.

The fantasy series didn’t seem to put much of a dent in either of the show’s final figures, perhaps suggesting that there isn’t much crossover between Thrones fans, reality TV addicts and royalists.

Love Island returns to ITV2 in summer 2018.