TV Overnights: Strong night of drama (and baking) secures top audiences for the BBC
Tuesday brought the UK viewing public another evening of high drama, quaint bake offs and yet another documentary unearthing the dirty secrets of the Royal Family.
BBC One’s evening of emotional action led to the second episode of Jimmy McGovern’s Accused at 9pm. It would appear that the absence of Sean Bean in a power frock scared a number of people away. But thanks to the presence of the brilliant Anne-Marie Duff and Olivia Coleman, the show still managed to the biggest audience in its time slot.
This week’s dose of grim tragedy focused on the women’s fight against a northern council estate overrun with dangerous youths. 4.3 million viewers (down from last week’s 5.3 million) watched as the intense plot played out, securing a 20% share.
Earlier on BBC Two was the second week of The Great British Bake Off (BBC Two, 8pm) and the twee white tent in the idyllic green country garden, hid the tension and trauma kicking off on the inside. The remaining 11 contestants were challenged to a full weekend of bread making, much to the majority’s horror.
While three star pupils excelled, the entertainment lay solely in the more amateur of the amateurs panicking in wide eyed terror and eventually calmly accepting their limited abilities as the monstrous eight-plait loaves came out of the oven. The second episode actually improved 22% on series three’s debut last week. 4 million viewers tuned in to see 45 year old Peter get sent on his merry way after producing some exceptionally awful bagels.
Over on ITV1 at 7:45pm was the exciting first-leg match in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League. Helsingborg v Celtic kicked off at 8pm and made good use of the Olympic Stadium before it is sold for scrap next week. The entire event attracted 1.6 million viewers but peaked at 2 million in the first 15 minutes of play. The game, which resulted on a 2-0 victory for Celtic, secured an average audience share of 7%.
Earlier on BBC One were the continuing adventures of Cockney cheeky chappy, Jay Mitchell. Life sure moves fast in Walford – just one short day after being branded the pariah of E20, a feral Jay is caught rummaging through a bin, munching on fish and chips. Recently we’ve seen Kat open her, erm, heart to a lot of people and one couldn’t help worry for Jay as she took him under her wing and brought him in to the safety of the Vic.
EastEnders (7:30pm) brought in the biggest audience of the night and helped secure an impressive 37% share. BBC One continued its strong run with Holby City netting 5 million viewers (a 23% share) at 8pm.
Channel 4 had a surprise hit on their hands in the form of The Queen’s Mother-in-Law at 9pm. The documentary focused on Princes Philip’s mother, Princess Alice and her extraordinary life. Princess Alice was exiled from Greece after revolutionaries overthrew the Greek Royal Family, harboured Jews in Nazi-occupied Athens and was treated by Sigmund Freud himself when she became a bit ‘clinically fed-up’. The surprising tale 3.5 million viewers for Channel 4 and secured a 15% audience share.
Who knew that a mentally unstable housemate would have positive affects for Celebrity Big Brother (10pm)? It must be a nice surprise for Channel 5, who would surely have attempted to select nice and friendly people in the negotiation process. In recent days malnourished fashion model Jasmine Lennard’s behaviour has become more erratic and aggressive with producers claiming they are now monitoring her behaviour (which is really handy, considering she’s locked up in a compound littered with one-way mirrors).
As the Elstree studio set has slowly morphed into an actual functioning funny farm, viewer interest grew. Since Saturday night the audience has been creeping up from 1.2 million to last night’s 1.9 (11.2%) million. Perhaps if Jasmine (apparently most famous for outshining Madonna on the red carpet of the Revolver premiere) throws herself through a glass window by the end of the week, producers can attract an audience over 2 million – last seen on launch night.
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.