TV Overnights: Silent Witness finale slaughters 4.8m
It may have come three months later than planned but patient viewers finally got to see the conclusion to series 15 of Silent Witness (BBC One, 9pm). While Dr Nikki was faffing around with facial reconstructions of decomposed bodies, Dr Harry had his eyes firmly on the exit door (after ten long years). I suppose the smell would get a bit much after a while.
4.8 million viewers tuned in to see the end of the seven year ‘will they/won’t they’ tension (they didn’t), with a 20% share watching as Dr Harry left for a new life in New York. This was down 800,000 viewers compared to the first part on Sunday evening.
An hour earlier at 8pm, life was truly on the skids for Jay Mitchell in EastEnders. His mood had taken a turn for the severe as his best mate had been thrown in prison, Jay himself had been connected to the murder and to top things off he was been thrown out on the street by Phil Mitchell. Add in some serious evils being thrown around Albert Square and you’ve got all the ingredients for a fairly rubbish Monday. As the menacing locals circled and intimidated Jay, it never occurred to him to hope on the DLR and make a new life for himself one stop away.
While the soap had been pulling in a strong amount of viewers this past week, last night it failed to take the top spot. The dose of Walford action still managed to capture an audience of 7 million people, with a 32% share.
Unusually for Coronation Street (ITV1, 7:30 & 8:30pm), both of Monday’s episodes came close to capturing the same number of viewers, with the first slice of Weatherfield life pulling in only 68,000 more people than the second. The first episode attracted the biggest audience of the day, with 7.37 million viewers (a 35% share) tuning in to see yet another unlikely romance blossom for Steve McDonald. The second episode fell slightly short, with an audience of 7.302 million and a 32% share.
Channel 4 invited us to spend an hour in the mind of a child killer in Ian Brady: Endgames of a Psychopath at 9pm. Despite the very recent death of Winnie Johnson, the mother of one of Brady’s victims and a contributor to the documentary, the airing went ahead.
The making of the programme led to the direct arrest of mental health advocate Jackie Powell, who disclosed she had been holding on to a letter from Brady to Winnie, possibly sharing the location of her son’s remains. As Monday night viewing goes, it made EastEnders look like Octonauts but the attention from the media helped Channel 4 attract its biggest audience of the day with 1.7 million viewers. A further 395,000 people tuned in an hour later on Channel 4+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.