TV Overnights: double soapy goodness results in strong evening for ITV1
Carla Connor has been wasting no time getting back in to the swing of things on Coronation Street (7:30pm).
The troubled brunette has only been back on the cobbles for three days and she’s already had a screaming brawl outside the factory. It must have been a Wednesday.
Peter and Carla’s time in the exotic US of A (relatively speaking) has changed the couple – it appeared they both picked up a spot of jaundice in LA while Peter also sorted himself out with a stick on Tony Stark goatee.
7.9 million viewers tuned in as Carla hit the bottle hard after learning her return might be permanent. Coupled with the fact she had to pick up diminutive anti-Christ Simon up from school, her decision to down a bottle of Whiskey for lunch was getting more understandable.
The trip to Weatherfield attracted Wednesday’s largest amount of viewers for ITV1. An audience share of 36% watched as, sadly, the minute horror ran away from Carla before she could bundle him in her car and drunkenly drive him off Lowry Bridge.
A missed opportunity if there ever was one.
Beforehand ITV1 took us on another gentile, yet ultimately heart breaking, trip to the Dales at 7pm. Emmerdale‘s golden couple, Priya and David, have captured the nation’s imagination over the past few weeks as their chemistry lit up our screens in a way not seen since two blonde clones got together in Erinsborough back in 1986. Who could forget watching their romance blossom over pints of Cask Ale in the Woolpack and stolen kisses in the woods?
No? Well, that’s probably for the best, as the dream has ended. 6.8 million people watched as Priya called it a day (in the safe and public surroundings of the pub, naturally) breaking David’s and the country’s collective heart in the process. 36% of the available audience watched as the iconic couple shared their last pork crackling together, netting the second biggest audience of the day.
Later in the prime time slot, the programming got a little more sinister. The second part of paranoid bleak homecoming spectacle The Town (ITV1, 9pm) saw Mark reluctantly take a job to support his horror of a sister following their parent’s suicide (which took place in the opening scene of this sunny drama).
It wasn’t long before Mark was stumbling blindly across old secrets and skeletons were kicking their way out of closets. ITV1’s regional version of Twin Peaks may have been a bit much for some as last night’s offering was down 25% week on week.
3.2 million viewers caught up with the latest suspicious goings on in the fictional town of Renton. Although the show secured a 15% audience share this wasn’t enough to secure the 9pm slot.
What made the absorbing drama’s defeat all the more worse was the calibre of its competitor. BBC One brought us Traffic Cops at 9pm, a hard hitting look at the reality of everyday vehicle permit checking.
Calming and reassuring presence Jamie Theakston was on hand to guide us through the raw footage of the police in action. A whopping 3.8 million viewers tuned in to see a police helicopter taking on the force of a pesky laser pen on terra firma, capturing a 17% share and the biggest audience in the prime time block.
Remember when the sight of a stand-up comedian was the indulgence of Saturday night television and the medium wasn’t over exposed to within an inch of its life? Then look away now. Last night saw the annual British Comedy Awards (Channel 4, 9pm) gather all the omni-present comedians we know and love and lavished them with praise.
When everyone is a comedian, does anyone laugh? Apparently, yes…1.8 million watched as Charlie Brooker picked up a Comedy Personality of the Year award (presumably for the excellent Black Mirror and A Touch of Cloth and not for having a baby with Konnie Huq).
The superfluous awards show saw every member of a panel show and talking-head-for-hire under one roof at the same time, secured a 10% share and the channel’s biggest audience of the day. Now…if only Carla Conner had been waiting outside in her car.
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.