TV Overnights: Double might of Crazy Kirsty and MP Nadine Dorrie secures Wednesday for ITV1
Following the success of jamming together two uninterrupted Emmerdale episodes last Thursday, ITV1 saw fit to give Coronation Street (7:30pm) the hour-long treatment.
Wednesday’s dose of claustrophobic community fun saw Kirsty switch her mental gauge all the way up to Proper.
Watching Kirsty slap hapless Tyrone around was entertaining enough for a while but last night the Wicked Witch of Weatherfield switched her focus to a sparring partner that was a little more on her level.
Spun in to a tornado of anger after Tyrone disobeyed her orders, Kirsty squarely blamed Fiz for her boyfriend suddenly spawning a backbone. Quicker than you could say ‘knickers’, Fiz found herself dealing with the trauma of needle-through-hand after her machine mysteriously started to play up.
Kirsty pulled out all the stops with her Sméagol/ Gollum shtick at the hospital, reminding Fiz just what level of soap crazy she was dealing with. 8.5 million people (a 37% share) tuned in to see the tiny street’s latest medical emergency,
On BBC One at 8pm former Gadget Show presenter and jobbing actor, Dallas Campbell, thought it was necessary to remind us all that humans have changed the face of the planet. Not only that, Dallas felt that plane hopping around the world, pointing at large constructions and saying ‘human’s did that!’ was a worthy venture.
Whatever the reasoning behind Supersized Earth, it really was just another excuse to commission yet another ‘educational’ round the world trip for some lucky presenter and camera crew. Although it does no harm that shows of these type positively showcase the HD channels too.
The first of three episodes saw Dallas wash the windows of Dubai’s largest building and marvel at the visually imposing metropolis of Tokyo.
Only two days after Richard Hammond wrapped up a similarly vague journey, Dallas’ tale of the earth’s industrial facelift sucked in 3.8 million viewers and a 16% share,
The lovely Kirsty Young, Professional Android Matthew Amroliwala and some rugby player joined forces to become the ultimate crime fighting team as the BBC’s legendary Crimewatch (BBC One, 9pm) returned with a 506th series. Broadcast live from the Hall of Justice in Cardiff, the trio appealed for information on a number of unsolved crimes.
The show pulled in a 13% share, with 3.1 viewers watching. Crimewatch Update (10:45pm) followed the BBC News, with the latest information and leads pulling in 1.6 million viewers
The Hour, over on BBC Two at 9pm, showed us the double life of the celebrity as dashing anchor Hector Madden spent some time in a dingy police cell after being accused of slapping one of his dolly birds about. The whole incident was highly embarrassing for his employers at the BBC, who did their best to keep their stiff upper lips firmly shut.
The second episode in the current run also dealt with the origins of national racial tension, as the streets of London were changing too fast for some tastes. 1 million viewers watched the period drama, down from 1.3 million, week on week.
Not only did ITV1 treat us to a whole hour of uninterrupted Coronation Street bliss (aside from those pesky ad breaks, naturally) but on the table for the second course was an extra gluttonous portion of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (8:30pm).
After being the victim of public voting and bush tucker trials one time too many, the nation finally pulled the trigger and allowed Tory MP Nadine Dorries to rest in peace. After 11 days of chowing down on the various intimate areas of animals, the Tory MP faces an uncertain future as it turned out she never actually asked permission to fly out to Queensland.
I wonder out of the 9 million viewers who watched last night could get away with that type of behaviour? The programme attracted the biggest audience of the day and a 37% audience share.
Elsewhere Kevin McCloud returned to one of the more stressful builds in Grand Design Revisited‘s (Channel 4, 9pm) recent history. You should know how this goes by now – a bullish and headstrong couple decided to build their dream home at the end of a small quaint mews in Central London.
The friction with the neighbours was palatable as giant lorries and diggers overtook the tiny space. Adding to the tension was the fact that the building ran seriously over budget as the couple were running out of cash.
Kevin returned a year later to find that, despite an impressively open and layered home for such a small space, stress had taken its toll on the family. 1.4 million people tuned in to watch the owners age significantly over a year, allowing the those of us who live in more realistic London accommodation to feel a little bit better.
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.