TV Overnights: 8m viewers for Coronation Street’s midweek binge
Wednesday night saw Michael Palin venture off on another epic journey, all thanks to the honest licence fee payer. This time around the happiest 69 year old in Great Britain set his sights on South America and viewers had to make do by living vicariously through him.
Brazil with Michael Palin (BBC One, 9pm) saw the former singing lumberjack interact with the locals and take us off the beaten track.
Palin, who at this stage is a more seasoned traveller than a gap year student with access to daddy’s credit card, brought to our screens his regular brand of sedated enthusiasm. The first episode of his fairly indistinct Brazilian travelogue pulled in 4.8 million viewers (a 20.3% share), securing the primetime slot for BBC One.
For the second week in a row Grand Designs (Channel 4, 9pm) delivered a build truly worthy of the title. After last week’s insanely expensive and gratuitous water tower conversion, last night’s episode remained in space-poor London.
Audrey described herself as an official space dweller (or something of the sort) and executed her 25 room, 13 storey build with a ruthless assertiveness. The interesting thing about this build was that (bar one room) all of this lay deep underground, beneath the streets of Holland Park.
This was one of those refreshing episodes where financial stress (if there was any) was kept off-camera – the cavernous labyrinth was a playground for Audrey to release her imagination, with seemingly no restrictions.
While she had shed-loads of her husband’s cash to throw at the project, Audrey was far too confident to bother with silly things like architects or, you know, designs. Convinced her steely manner and confidence would get them through, Audrey seemed genuinely surprised when her building team hit the road after a year, leaving the majority of work unfinished. This was the point where that cash stuff proved its worth once again.
The subterranean show house was down 10% on last week’s 100th episode. 2.7 million people watched as Audrey’s dream of recreating Blofeld’s evil layer under the quaint paths of W14 became a reality, pulling in an 11.3% audience share.
Over on ITV1 was the third episode in the current run of drizzly West Yorkshire detective drama DCI Banks (9pm). After the emotionally testing two part story, fans that hoped the grey clouds over the Leeds countryside would dissipate were in for a disappointing time.
Last night saw Banks and new partner DI Helen Morton investigate the professional murder of a seemingly boring family man. Between a wee bit of snooping around and questioning the dead accountant’s wife (whose darkest secrets were practically written on her face) Alan discovered the dead man was part of a much bigger money-laundering operation.
The fresh story, which is most definitely not supported by the good people at Visit Leeds, slightly improved in popularity week on week. 4.5 million viewers tuned in for another tough day for DCI Banks, resulting in a 19% share.
BBC One secured the highest audience share from 8pm onwards. The beeb’s dominance kicked off at 8pm with the usual consumer affairs hysterics from Watchdog, which netted 5.1 million viewers and a 23% share. However, earlier in the evening it was ITV1 that stole the limelight, with an hour of soapy goodness from 7pm.
As usual Emmerdale was first up and the investigation in to Carl’s murder continued. What the village probably needs is a visit from DCI Banks but they’ll have to make do with bumbling outsiders confusing Chas’ harmless guilt with real murderous guilt. In fairness though, even the slightly muddled Dingle thinks she killed Carl, so the police can’t really be blamed for this one.
The aftermath of the anniversary episode has seen a bigger than usual audience flock to the village, with last night being no exception. 7.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Chas receiving some devastating news, resulting in a 34% share.
In the end it was the soap’s older sibling that got all the attention. We all get that anxious midweek feeling sometimes – so close to the weekend, yet so far. Last night saw Ryan, Coronation Street‘s resident tool, take that feeling to the extreme. Spurned on by Tracy’s rejection, Ryan and Sophie went out on the town where the wild man of the cobbles gorged on cheap vodka and cocaine.
8 million people egged Ryan on as he decided to play chicken on a busy dual carriage way, bringing in a 36% share. The night’s biggest audience watched as the youngest Webster girl attempted to save her munted mate (spoiler time: the speeding car won the fight).
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.