TV Overnights: Hell and Paradise combine to deliver a sturdy Tuesday for BBC One
Tuesday night saw the two top channels peak a little too early in the evening with their frothy soap output.
Last night’s visit to Albert Square, detailing all the latest misfortunes to befall the troubled cast of characters, netted Tuesday’s biggest audience across all channels. The heart-warming tale of everyday folk and their self-inflicted hardships, secured a 36% share.
EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) has always specialised in dashing dreams; many of the residents must be used to it at this stage.
Among the many issues facing the unlucky-in-life souls was Ayesha giving up her education in order to get married, and poor Zainab Khan receiving the horrible news that she didn’t get the Minute Mart Regional Manager job.
The fact that that was her dream is soul shattering enough. Zainab should really learn to aim higher and be like up-and-coming entrepreneur Bianca Butcher.
8.2 million viewers watched as the flame haired disaster decided to set up a market stall with equally catastrophic Kat Moon, resulting in Tuesday’ biggest hit. From 7:30pm onwards BBC One held on to the evening’s highest share.
Half an hour earlier on the other side, Emmerdale (7pm) delivered ITV’s best performer of the day. Tuesday’s portion of farming action centred around canoodling teenagers Belle and Luke and attracted 6.8 million viewers and a 31% share, the highest in its timeslot. ITV failed to steal the highest share back from BBC One for the rest of the night.
Sex, intrigue, glamorous locations and crippling addictions – none of these elements were part of The Mary Berry Story at 8pm on BBC Two. The first part in an extremely sedate two-part look at the life of the culinary legend pulled in a surprising 3 million viewers.
Last night looked at the Commander of the Order of the British Empire’s tough childhood, including a tussle with polio and the momentous occasion when she first picked up the wooden spoon. The composed ‘expose’ secured a 13% and provided BBC Two’s biggest audience.
Dependable draw Holby City (BBC One, 8pm) once again did its job with ruthless precision, attracting its usual audience of 5.2 million viewers and a 22% share.
A repeat of Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (ITV, 8pm) just couldn’t compete with both of the BBC’s propositions, with just 2.5 million people tuning in to see Eamonn Holmes getting some more screen time.
The successful second series of sunny and bright murder drama Death in Paradise (BBC One) continued at 9pm. The fourth episode in the current run saw yet another shocking murder on the Caribbean island of Saint-Marie. DI Poole had his hands full as a number of treasure hunters descended on the island, resulting in a 27% share.
The show makes a refreshing change from the undistinguishable grey and moody procedurals that are liberally littered throughout the schedule.
The easy charm of Saint-Marie means that viewers would probably still show up even if someone wasn’t killed off each week but as it was, 6.5 million viewers caught up with the story that helps BBC Drama meet their entire year’s ethnic quota in one fell swoop.
Over on ITV was the second part of Great Houses with Julian Fellowes (9pm) in which the popular writer of feature length Ferrero Rocher adverts wandered around a selection of random old estates, shaking the cupboards as he passed hoping for a few skeletons to fall out.
The second helping of pompous historical gossiping fell from 2 million viewers down to last night’s audience of 1.6 million viewers, resulting in a 7% share.
At the same time on Channel 5, 9pm brought the second series of the shiny and rebootified Dallas. Very little has changed in the intervening months – JR was still hanging in there, Jordana Brewster still looked deathly and practically transparent, the betrayals were coming thick and fast and Sue Ellen still had an satanic and constant soft glow around her being.
The series two opener saw a distinct drop in viewers compared to the first series launch last year. Only 717,000 viewers tuned in to see Christopher Ewing’s new wife reveal that she’s really only one of them evil Barnes, the cross generational mortal enemy of the Ewing clan! The latest round of Texan high drama pulled in a disappointing 3% share.
A heavy dose of ultra-violence, beautifully composed shots and a completely barmy script have really helped Channel 4’s paranoid and MENTAL drama Utopia stand out from the crowd. The fourth episode at 10 pm upped the shocking destructive force of the Network to new levels and secured 859,000 viewers and 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.