TV Overnights: Emmerdale batters EastEnders
Just one day after hitting low audiences figures, rustic soap Emmerdale (7pm) bounced back with an hour long special (a revolutionary idea, this – it’s like the usual two episode fare on Thursday night but without sticking a random and blatantly obvious substandard filler show in the middle).
Thursday night saw Debbie take a break from the stress of her daughter’s bone marrow transplant, deciding to unwind by visiting her bitter love rival in prison. As you do. Wednesday’s offering of Emmerdale magic only managed to attract 5.4 million viewers but last night’s Debbie/Chas showdown netted an impressive 7 million viewers, securing a 32% share.
While the affluent landowners of Emmerdale soared, the underclass of Walford sank further into a recession. Due to ITV1 mashing up their two part soap in to one, EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) experienced the preferably avoidable situation of going head to head with one the commercial channel’s big soap player. Turns out the residents of E20 weren’t in fighting shape, with no battle to speak of.
Last night ITV1’s drama from the Yorkshire Dales clearly had the soap viewing nation in the palm of its rugged farming hand as BBC One’s London-set soap saw a massive 34% drop episode on episode. It would seem that a lot of fans preferred to see a little girl recover from a bone marrow transplant than stomach yet another night of Syed and Christian bickering in grimy Walford.
Christian was all set to leave for America when he and Syed got locked in the restaurant together. Can cash-strapped EastEnders characters really afford to be so dismissive about expensive transatlantic flights?!
A paltry 4.8 million tuned in to see the warring pair hash out their problems, resulting in a unusually low 21% share. On the bright side, this was the final slice of their bickering as the newlyweds walked away from the misery of Albert Square once and for all.
Despite Emmerdale‘s triumph it was typically overshadowed by the older, needier sibling Coronation Street (ITV1, 8pm) straight afterwards. Last night saw Michelle return to the cobbles from Ireland for the 60th time in her tenure in Weatherfield. 8 million viewers watched as dull eyed couch potato Steve had to compete with handsome and dangerous Rob for her attentions, resulting in a 33% share.
To make up for ITV1’s I’m a Celebrity (8:30pm) snub in favour of football on Wednesday, last night fans were treated to a whole hour and a half of vital and essential viewing. It was back to business as usual in the jungle, so early in and the show is already very repetitive: Helen Flannigan was once again nominated for a trial.
She complained a lot, reminded everyone of the existence of her mammaries, failed the task in a matter of seconds while SCREAMING, failed to win any food for the contestants, spoke about quitting and was nominated for the next night’s trial.
The jungle shenanigans depressingly attracted Thursday’s biggest audience with 8.6 million viewers tuning in for the monotonous chain of events, resulting in a 35% share. Whatever will the weekend hold?
In the prime time spot on BBC One was the second to last episode of Hunted (9pm) and Sam was running out of time, quite literally. Ignorant to the fact that the spy show will definitely not be returning for a second series, Sam remained her chipper self – detached and clinically unreadable as she peered around corners and beat the snot out of unsuspecting shadowy people.
The penultimate slice of double crossing and pouty paranoia saw Sam look in to her traumatic childhood memories, as well as more recent traumatic memories, to finally discover why everyone wants her dead. The wacky show, which hilariously takes itself very seriously, has seen a steady decline in viewers since its debut seven weeks ago (pulling in 4.5 million people). A line graph detailing the weeks since would be reminiscent of a child’s slide, with last night’s action attracting 2.6 million and a 10% audience share.
As usual Channel 4 offered up a nice alternative to all the high concept nonsense, both of the spy and c-list celebrity kind. Maybe a ‘nice alternative’ isn’t the right description for Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday (9pm) but it was worthy viewing. The one off film was filmed on and off over five years and details the everyday life of Shirley Henderson, John Simm and their children as they deal with his incarceration.
Slightly harrowing but fascinating to see these actors actually age on screen, Everyday brought a devastating realism that might have been a bit much for some. Despite the impressive performances and unique approach Everyday only managed to capture the attention of 673,000 viewers and a 3% audience share.
More harrowing scenes played out earlier on BBC One. The third episode of Young Apprentice (8pm) saw the little precocious horrors scramble their way around London with a swagger that only blind confidence can bring. 3.2 million viewers watched as the younglings were given a task to secure a set of theatrical props at the lowest possible prices.
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.