6.8m viewers fail to resist EastEnders’ musty alluring charm
At long, long last, Thursday night finally brought some closure for fans of Gregg Wallace’s informative face and retail exposé as the final ever edition of Supermarket Secrets (9pm) was released upon the nation.
The Spring edition of Wallace’s look under the hood of the country’s largest supermarket chains attempted to answer all those questions that have been keeping committed viewers up at night.
Amazingly, the biggest audience at 9pm set their sights on Wallace’s over-exaggerated face as he discovered how exactly the supermarkets manage to stock up on millions of eggs for Pancake Day (eeeeh… simple planning, it turns out) and how they make all that Easter chocolate (giant scary liquid chocolate-wielding machines from the future).
Last October Wallace’s gems of truth on Autumn’s Supermarket Secrets pulled in 3.8 million viewers, while Christmas Supermarket Secrets secured 4 million viewers thanks to the Turkey-related disclosures. Last night’s high octane series finally pulled out all the stops, with the MasterChef presenter getting very excited indeed.
A total of 3.8 million viewers huddled around their televisions for an hour of prime time enlightenment, securing the 9pm slot with an 18% share.
But possibly the best thing about Spring’s Supermarket Secrets was the fact it was the second of a two hour Gregg Wallace-fest on BBC One.
An hour earlier at 8pm, the latest episode of the never-ending culinary chaos that is MasterChef did slightly better with co-judge John Torode unfortunately diluting Thursday’s bounty of Wallace. 4.3 million viewers tuned in to see yet another six amateur cooks create some kind of sympathetic narrative for themselves, securing an 18% share.
Up against the supermarket revelations at 9pm was the second part of author Ben Macintyre’s love letter to the Soviet Union’s most successful double agent, Kim Philby.
Kim Philby – His Most Intimate Betrayal (BBC Two, 9pm) detailed the super spy’s unravelling in the 1960s with Macintyre excitedly acting out his subject’s head-racing decision (he’s really, really into the guy), pulling in 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
Meanwhile on ITV, Griff Rhys Jones was back to compère the usual line-up of rehashed clips that make a new episode of It’ll Be Alright on the Night (9pm) look tired, let alone yet another repeat.
Gurning his way through clips of weathermen having mental breakdowns live on air, Rhys Jones somehow managed to create a patronising air despite being the man people fast forward through to get to the ‘good’ stuff.
An audience of 2.3 million viewers tuned in to see Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby fluff their lines for the millionth time (hmmm, you’d swear it was almost intentional) with the rerun securing an 11% share.
15,000 Kids and Counting (9pm) was a rare thing – a modern documentary on Channel 4 that appeared to be genuinely worthy of viewers’ attention.
The three episode series looks at the UK’s adoption process, with last night’s heart-breaking hour focusing on a young mother in an abusive relationship. 1.3 million viewers tuned in for the eye-opening look at the world of vulnerable children, netting a 6% share.
Earlier on in the day, it was the musky, irresistible aroma of Max Branning on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) that pulled in the evening’s biggest audience through his hotel room door.
After teasing viewers about who exactly is Lucy Beale’s mystery man, last night viewers found themselves reeling in horror as it was revealed Walford’s most desirable slab of hunk was at it again.
An audience of 6.8 million viewers tuned in to see the used car salesman reveal his latest extremely appropriate affair. Lucy Beale should be careful – things haven’t worked out so well for Mr. Branning’s past lady friends. An audience share of 33% tuned in for the start of a major storyline for the soap, with the shock twist generating 19,692 tweets during broadcast.
Flanking EastEnders on both sides was a double bill of ITV’s Emmerdale, with the first episode at 7pm netting 6.1 million viewers and a 32% share. An hour later, 5.5 million viewers watched in celebration as Debbie Dingle was carted off to the cop shop, securing the day’s fourth biggest audience with a 25% share.
Later, 2.8 million viewers tuned in to hear hot topics, like the Royal Mail fiasco, possibel NHS subscriptions fees and Farage’s recent victory on Question Time (BBC One, 10pm). The debate spilled over to Twitter as the show generated 32,438 tweets, making it the most tweeted about show of the whole day.
The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.