TV Overnights: Shirley’s meltdown pulls in 7.4m for BBC One
Last night saw EastEnders carry on this week’s epic seven episode sprint, with a possibility that viewers may be finally offered some kind of closure regarding the whole ‘Ben murdered Heather’ storyline. Not only did Shirley narrow down Heather’s killer to the Mitchell household, Ben helped her along to the conclusion in most obvious murder case in recent soap memory.
Wednesday’s episode of the continuing Walford drama saw Shirley reach breaking point as she realised she has been lied to for all this time.
In true EastEnders fashion, Shirley flipped out in the typical over-the-top way, her eyes glowing red as she demolished a number of props. 7.4 million viewers turned in to see Ben slip up, finally helping Shirley realise the truth about the identity of Heather’s murderer. The dramatic episode attracted a 36% audience share and nabbed the biggest audience of the night.
Up against all the shouting and emoting on BBC One was another overpaid ensemble cast who were no strangers to drama. Coverage of England v Italy began at 7:30pm with Adrian Chiles tied in to presenting duties and the pre-match natter helped along by Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate. A total audience of 4 million viewers stayed tuned for the entire programme, securing an 18% share.
Daniele De Rossi swooped in and scored the first and only goal for Italy at 8:15pm. The audience peaked at 5 million viewers (a 24% share) half an hour in as Phil Jagielka scored the first goal for England. An audience share of 18% stayed tuned for the entire game, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for England.
Peter Andre’s Bad Boyfriend Club (ITV2, 9pm) wasn’t as explicit as the name might suggest but was as awful as anyone would expect. In his latest desperate attempt to have people look at him, Andre took on the role of fairy god mother to a number of idiotic men, in order to turn them in to loving, caring partners.
Throw in a manly makeover section and all the ingredients were there for another thrilling ‘reality’ show from Australia’s most popular export. The first episode of this essential new series attracted 377,000 viewers. This was outshined an hour later by The Only Way is Essex (10pm), which dragged in 669,000 viewers off the streets. But the less said about that, the better.
Back over on BBC One and it was time for another series of ghost hunting with celebrities on Who Do You Think You Are? The ninth series kicked off with former EastEnders babynapper Samantha Womack as she tried to track down any information about her fractured family tree. The usually mix of gushing emotions and genuinely shocking revelations secured 4.7 million viewers for BBC One, resulting in a 20% audience share – the biggest for that time slot.
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.