TV Overnights: A peak audience of 5.6m watch Jonnie Peacock break Paralympic 100m record
Good Cop Rocksavage’s problems just kept on coming. Last night saw the morally confused police officer deal with a stalker who claims to know a lot about his recent past. You do one silly little thing like taking the law into your own hands and murdering someone and out of nowhere it comes back to haunt you!
The second episode of the graphic drama went out at 9pm on BBC One but lost viewers week on week. Last night 3.3 million viewers (a 15% share) tuned in to see ‘Sav’s’ life spiral further out of control, down from the 4 million viewers that watched the first episode captured. Although, that only had to contend with a repeat of Doc Martin on ITV1.
Things were different last night as the commercial broadcaster unleashed a new brand of sleuth to counter attack the BBC. At 9pm ITV1 presented their latest twist on the over familiar detective genre: The Bletchley Circle focused on four female former code breakers who attempted to adapt back to normal life after the Second World War.
After struggling to keep their brains ticking along, they channelled their wasted smarts in to solving a spot of brutal crimes. Naturally, their next step was to establish a proto Scooby Gang and try to capture a malicious serial killer. 4 million viewers caught up with the first of three episodes, helping ITV1 score a 17% audience share.
While the two crime dramas slugged it out, Channel 4 provided their own secret weapon in the form of 19 year old Paralympian Jonnie Peacock. The evening programme of Paralympic Games 2012 featured the hotly anticipated Men’s 100m final live from the Olympic Stadium at 9:25pm.
The entire three hour plus show brought in a larger than usual average audience of 3.4 million viewers (a 16% share) but viewers peaked as Britain’s Peacock took to the track. 5.6 million (a 24% share) watched as the Cambridge teenager stormed the 100m trail in 10.9 seconds, a new Paralympic record.
Once again in the absence of cobbled drama, Emmerdale brought in ITV1’s biggest audience of the day. The first episode at 7pm performed better, with 5.7 million (an impressive 30% share) viewers tuning in to see Katie lead Robbie to the stables to ensnare him in her trap. The second episode at 8:30pm brought in 5.3 million viewers but the audience share dropped to 24%.
Sandwiched between the rural action was EastEnders over on BBC One at 7:30pm. Shirley’s mental well being continued sliding down its slippery slope, due to the fact that all those around her have been covering up Hev’s murder. Armed with a bottle of whiskey in hand, Shirley passed out in the gutter (never one to do things half-arsed) just as her estranged daughter walked back into the Square.
Despite the breadth of triumph that was on offer all evening on Channel 4, it was the London soap that secured the largest ratings of Thursday. 6.8 million viewers grabbed their latest slice of East End misery, securing a 32% share.
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.