TV Overnights: The search for Jesus – 3m viewers still held captive

The nation’s eyes have been firmly locked on next week for a truly once-in-a-lifetime historic event. Men and women, young and old across the country have been counting down the days: just who will be the next Superstar (ITV1, 9pm)? Yes – Andrew Lloyd Webber, like a terrifying alien overlord from Doctor Who, has been omnipresent on our screens for the past few days and it is set to continue.

Last night saw yet another live show, featuring a handful of song and dance men jumping around, dressed as Jesus, all for our approval.The latest exercise in meta cross promotion attracted 2.4 million viewers (a 10% share) and thankfully only lasted an hour. Since it’s début on Saturday the 7th of July the reality competition has consistently captured an exact number of viewers – bubbling either side of the 3 million mark for six episodes now. What surprises will tonight’s show bring?

Completely mad ‘social experiment’ Turn Back Time: The Family continued on BBC One at 9pm. This week the families ‘time travelled’ to the sixties through the powerful tool of imagination and the BBC props department. The adventure mostly involved wearing dodgy outfits and being constantly surrounded by nauseating décor.

But it wasn’t all frivolous; lessons were to be learned last night. We discovered there are unpleasant aspects to the country’s past as one family had to deal with realistic racial prejudice of the time. Thankfully Hugh Bonneville was there to narrate us through the scary bits, attracting an average audience of 3.3 million viewers for the hour running time.

Over on BBC Two corruption drama Line of Duty remained consistent, bringing in 3 million viewers for the channel. The moral maze of exploitation has been garnering positive critical responses over the last four weeks. Last night saw the metaphorical noose tighten around the neck of DCI Gates as he continued to keep viewers guessing. The penultimate episode scored a 12.6% audience share.

If all that was a bit tense Hugh Bonneville was back on our screens at 10pm to lighten the mood, this time promoted to front-of -camera duties. The Olympics continue to rush towards us as organisers, both fictional and real, struggle to keep their heads above the PR waters. The final episode of Twenty Twelve will air next week, three days before the Opening Ceremony. Last night saw Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher recovering in hospital after literally shooting himself in the foot, pulling in 1.4 million viewers (a 7% share).

BBC One had a very strong early evening. EastEnders (7:30pm) won the biggest audience of the day and a 35% audience share. Last night’s gripping drama saw poor old Janine having trouble trusting her blatantly not to be trusted scheming partner Michael. And who would know better about trust? She did scheme, murder and maim her way to the top of her business ’empire.’ Why isn’t she in jail with Tracy Barlow? Last night the Walford soap secured 7 million viewers. This was followed by another episode of Holby City (8pm) which saw Ollie and Tara working on a sensitive case, netting 4.7 million viewers.

Those who were having trouble waiting for their Catwoman fix in Friday’s The Dark Knight Rises were treated to an earlier cinematic incarnation on ITV2 (and no, Halle Berry’s misguided and tragic attempt doesn’t count on any level). Tim Burton’s Batman Returns from 1992 featuring Michelle Pfeiffer as a particularly bonkers Selina Kyle was watched by 367,000 viewers with another 81,000 tuning in an hour later on ITV2+1.

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.