TV Overnights: Our Tracy’s baby drama nets 8.6m for ITV1
Monday night saw another procedural face-off between BBC One’s gang of meddling detectives and ITV1’s very own version of Doogie Howser.
The New Tricks team were up to their necks in Stasi secrets, as they investigated the death of an East German immigrant. Newby Steve McAndrew was still trying to reaffirm his place in the UCOS team, feeling much like the ever revolving and insecure Kenny replacements in that one series of South Park where the tragic hooded character actually stayed dead.
In the past few weeks Steve has proved a valuable member of the geriatric crime solving team, playing his own part in solving the various corroded mysteries. The latest episode of the series continued to perform well, netting 7.3 million viewers, easily bagging the 9pm slot with a 31% audience share.
Over on ITV1, poor old Monroe (9pm) was feeling a bit down, having lost his nerve after last week’s incredibly disastrous work on a malfunctioning brain shunt. We’ve all been there, pal. While it was lovely to see the gifted wunderkind being dragged through an emotional minefield, there was still plenty of self-confident smarm still left in the old boy.
The third episode of the James Nesbit-starring drama attracted 2.8 million viewers and a 12% share. This is a 13% drop in viewers since the series opener and a far cry from Monroe‘s debut in March 2011, which pulled in 5.6 million overnight viewers.
Earlier at 8:30pm, BBC Two brought us another visit to Nigella Lawson’s fold up kitchen in Nigellissima, netting a 9% audience share. Her Homely Highness had a bit of a surprise existential moment with she was dishing out her baby aubergines with oregano and red onion, declaring she didn’t have a soul.
In the background, her hired guests in the patio ‘garden’ didn’t even raise an eyebrow – maybe they know something we don’t? A rigid two million viewers came back for another round of eye-cuddling the camera, down 20% from the first episode four weeks ago.
Straight afterwards on the same channel was another Wonderland special. This week, documentary film maker Vanessa Engle braved Hampstead Heath and the superfluous dog owners to find some stories of worth.
Engle explored the way we interact with our pets and how they can come to define us. The random walkers willing to take part included a woman living in a homeless shelter, a wife struggling to deal with life after her husband was taken into care and an alcoholic; all had their own unique take on their canine companionship. Walking With Dogs (9pm) improved upon last week’s I Was Once a Beauty Queen by 10%, resulting in an audience of 1.5 million viewers and a 6% share.
Speaking of pet/owner relationships…if there’s one thing you can say about Tracy Barlow, it’s that she usually ends up getting what she wants. The Weatherfield vixen set her sights on her love-rival’s son Ryan and won; you’d need to have a history of some serious chemical abuse to consider setting up shop with the convicted murderer. 8.7 million viewers watched the McDonald, Barlow and Connor clans scramble to make sense of the latest developments, pulling in a 38% share.
The first episode of Coronation Street at 7:30pm secured Monday’s biggest audience with the second helping at 8:30pm securing 8.6 million viewers.
Uh-oh – social occasions in EastEnders (8pm) always end up in tears but it appears the people of Walford are just doomed to repeat mistakes. T’was the night of Christian and Syed’s stag party and they decided to go all out.
A big night out in Soho? A trip to a tacky seaside resort? No. It seemed another night in the Queen Vic would suffice. 7.9 million viewers watched as the night of laughter and dancing once again turned in to an emotional meltdown, 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.