TV Overnights: Mel and Sue secure 3.3m for BBC Two
Last night saw the return of not one but two legendary double acts on BBC Two, as judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry and hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins returned for a third series of The Great British Bake Off (8pm). Adding a much needed injection of rock and roll to Tuesday night, the competition once again saw twelve amateur bakers take to the tent of dreams to prove what they are made of.
The first episode covered the usual array of measurement disasters and panic attacks, as the contestants had to tackle a range of cake based challenges. The show attracted 3.3 million viewers (a 16% share), up from the 2.8 million the opener of series two pulled in this time last year.
After waiting for months and months, fans of EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30PM) are finally being rewarded with a little payoff. The ‘Heather’s killer’ storyline is finally on its way to getting some kind of resolution. Last night, after five long months, the cogs in Shirley’s head were slowly but surely beginning to move, as the latest piece of evidence landed conveniently in her lap.
The third of seven episodes bestowed upon the viewing public this week in the wake of those games, saw Shirley put one and one together to get six. She may have ended up accusing the wrong Mitchell but at least Walford’s super sleuth is getting there. 7.2 million viewers watched, helping EastEnders secure the biggest audience of the day, netting a 38% share.
The high drama continued on BBC One with Holby City locking in 4.8 million at 8pm, followed afterwards by the second series of Jimmy McGovern’s Accused (9pm). The show focuses on the people accused of crimes as they await their verdict, with the opening episode focusing on a rocky relationship between loutish Stephen Graham and Sean Bean’s transvestite Tracie Tremarco. Last night’s sentencing secured 5.3 million, an improvment from the series one debut episode starring Christopher Eccleston, which attracted 4.7 million viewers in November 2010.
Meanwhile on ITV, Emmerdale (7pm) secured the channel’s biggest audience early in the evening. The latest drama from the Dales saw Chas turn her attention to a new man which naturally led to a bout of heavy petting. 5.6 million viewers tuned in to see the unlucky in love Dingle clan corner Dan, with 292,000 of those catching the pashing in HD.
ITV’s attempt to counteract the varied drama on the BBC came in the shape of a familiar and reliable detective. The channel offered up a repeat of Lewis in the prime time slot, with the two hour episode from 2011 (which naturally featured a suspicious death in an Oxford college) attracting 2.6 million viewers (a 12% share).
Person of Interest (10pm) may have looked like yet another by-the-numbers crime procedural but this one came with a slight sci-fi twist. Channel 5’s latest US import has been throwing around some heavyweight big screen names in the marketing. Created by Jonathan Nolan, (co-writer of the last two Dark Knight films) and produced by J.J. Abrams (director of the Star Trek reboot) the premise revolves around an abandoned US government surveillance project that can detect crimes before they happen.
The pilot episode went out at 10pm last night and pulled in an audience of 1.8 million, with a further 132,000 viewers watching an hour later on Channel 5+1 making it the station’s second biggest show of the day.
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.