TV Overnights: Shirley’s agressive freak out nets 7.7m for BBC One
Tuesday night brought us the latest UEFA Champions League game courtesy of ITV1. Adrian Chiles and his happy face brought us pre match analysis at 7:30pm with the help of Gareth Southgate and permagrump Roy Keane.
The Group B face-off between Olympiakos and Arsenal kicked off 15 minutes later, live from Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens.
After 38 minutes of gentle play Arsène Wenger’s men briefly got it together up, with Czech midfielder Rosicky netting a goal for the Gunners. Unfortunately this move also awakened their Greek counterparts.
Having already secured their place in the final 16, Arsenal took a step back after the initial goal, allowing Olympiakos to score in the 60th and 70th minute. 3 million viewers tuned in to see Arsenal defeated 2-1, securing a 13% audience share for the entire coverage. 407,000 of those caught up with the latest Champions League action in high definition.
Emmerdale went out beforehand at 7pm and Tuesday’s visit to the countryside saw Chas dealing with the small matter of still being locked up. Much like Arsenal, the distressed brunette just felt like giving up before the final whistle.
This being soap land though, things were bound to get worse before they got better – news of her mate’s suicide did very little to cheer up her Tuesday. 6.6 million viewers caught up with the latest goings on in the Dales, securing a 28% audience share, the highest in that time slot.
BBC One provided an alternative to the football with EastEnders at 7:30pm. Shirley’s only been back two minutes and there was a lot of catching up to do. The manic brawler was not best pleased upon learning that troubled soul Ben was baby Lexi’s farther. Shirley continued voicing her displeasure in her usual quaint fashion, dispensing a torrent of abuse to Phil and Sharon.
7.7 million viewers watched as most of Walford was destroyed in her violent wake, securing a 34% share meaning the cantankerous commoner’s mental unloading attracted the night’s biggest audience.
It was at this point BBC One secured the largest audience share and held on to it for the rest of the night.
Reliable medical drama Holby City followed at 8pm and trainee doctor Tara Lo was still figuring out what to do about that annoying brain tumour. She may be a talented surgeon but perhaps it’d be best to actually inform a colleague of the situation. 5 million viewers were watching to see if Tara could go ahead with the self-surgery, securing a 21% share.
Crusty romance drama and strong performer Last Tango in Halifax continued at 9pm with the third episode seeing life getting more complicated for aging lovers Alan and Celia. It all got a bit Scooby Doo after a vicar refused to marry them in church and they ended up getting trapped in a spooky mansion.
The unexpected narrative turn kept viewers on their feet as 6.2 million people tuned in for the steamy pensioner romp, a small but actual increase on the first episode three weeks ago. An audience share of 27% saw the channel hold dominance over last night’s TV watching population.
Over on Channel 4 at 10pm was the second episode of Brighton drama The Fear, which saw crime boss Richie Beckett’s (Peter Mullan) mental health continue to slide.
The first episode on Monday night managed to pull in a disappointing 735,000 viewers but last night’s offering actually improved on that slightly. 761,000 people tuned in to see Richard E. Grant pop up as a suspect plastic surgeon, resulting in a 5% 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.