TV Overnights: ITV’s DCI Banks gets one over on Palin
Last night at 9pm, BBC One brought us the second leg of Palin’s Brazilian trip, which found him starting off at the Northern tip bordering Venezuela and making his way to the country’s capital by river. Along the way, the real life version of Uncle Travelling Matt, stopped off in the Amazon rainforest to spend some time with the Yanomami tribe.
Palin spoke to a shaman about their endangered existence (there are only approximately 20,000 left, and there have been many massacres at the hand of foreigners), western diseases and outside influences destroying their fragile culture.
Amazingly, Palin delivered all this in a completely unselfconscious and sincere fashion but if anyone can get away with it, it’s him. Halloween brought an scary number for the intrepid explorer as the travel documentary’s audience fell 13% (unlucky for some) since the first episode last week. 4.2 million viewers tuned in for the second of four trips to Brazil with Michael Palin, resulting in an 18% share.
Up against the wandering vagabond was DCI Banks on ITV1 at 9pm. The forthright inspector was getting results following the professional hit of a seemingly quiet family man last week.
The show was neck and neck with BBC One’s offering with the Leeds procedural edging out the ageing Python by 380,000 viewers. 4.2 million viewers tuned in to see Alan (to his Mum) ponder what it’s all about, netting an 18% audience share.
The small boost in viewers following Grand Design’s 100th episode seems to be dissipating slowly. Last night saw Kevin bother another couple, question their taste and thrust a camera in their faces at their most stressed moments.
Episode 102 saw artistes Indi and Rebecca tick all the clichéd boxes – building in a difficult location, frightening the locals with change, dealing with biblical weather and running in to financial issues.
The finished build on the Isle of Skye certainly gave the islands inhabitants something to gawk at, attracting an 11% share. Viewers fell by 600,000 viewers in the past two weeks, with an audience of 2.4 million people tuning in for the latest audacious build.
Depressingly, the only prime time show to really get in to the spirit of the day was Come Dine With Me: Halloween Special on Channel 4 at 8pm. Snake oil dispenser Sally Morgan, some factory line glamour model, an Alex Reid and Robert Englund came together in culinary celebration of All Hallows Eve.
Sally (her special power is talking to real, proper dead people) looked spookily deflated, while Alex Reid (special power: remembering to breathe) talked his usual level of nonsense through the hour long show.
Star of the original Nightmare on Elm Street franchise Robert, looked a long way from Laguna Beach and acted suitably embarrassed. A lowly 994,000 viewers (a 5% share) came together to watch the bizarre ensemble being haunted by the ghosts of careers past.
At the same time on ITV1 were the desperate celebrities flogging their relationships for some wholesome exposure on yet another All Star Mr & Mrs (8pm). Some Emmerdale couple, Stacey of Dagenham and her plus one and newsreader Kate Silverton and her fella all fought it out for the coveted…industry kudos that comes from being a victor in the publicity-hungry games (and £30,000 for their chosen charity, so it’s not all bad).
4.4 million watched the love-fest about the foibles couples face, attracting a 20% audience share. The first half of the Philip Schofield presented show secured the largest audience share for that time, only for Anne Robinson and her cronies to snatch it away from them in the second half.
Watchdog (BBC One, 8pm) only had one chance left to right the wrongs of the consumer world as series 30 came to a close last night, and boy, Anne, Matt and Chris didn’t disappoint! The knives came out as the crack team launched an attack on EA Sports, developer of the best-selling FIFA 13 video game which had a few bugs.
These are quite common the more complicated games become and can usually be fixed by downloading a patch from the developer. 4.1 million viewers watched the alarmist show’s knee jerk reaction, a superfluous call to arms. The investigative show had an average audience share of 19% but only secured the biggest share across all channels from 8:30 to 9pm.
Earlier in the day Emmerdale (ITV1, 7pm) saw Jimmy struggle with his brother Carl’s eulogy. What can you say about a psychotic, dangerous, destroyer of lives (that would be church appropriate)? 6.9 million viewers watched, securing a 34% share.
Coronation Street followed straight after at 7:30pm. Ken awoke to a day he knew would just get worse as it went on. Finding himself on Wendy’s (his ex-petting mate) sofa. The fear was palatable as he figured out how to explain his absence to Deirdre.
7.6 million viewers watched as the octogenarian faced the walk of shame and wrath and the bespectacled one. The episode was the most watched show of Wednesday, pulling in a 36% 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.