TV Overnights: England’s victory peaks at 6.8 million
With the weekend schedule looking a bit predictable recently, luckily there was some Six Nations action to balance out the usual array of period dramas, soapy arguing and celebrities diving and ice skating in discarded sci-fi costumes from the 70’s.
Friday
Emmerdale got into the swing of things at 7pm on ITV, breaking the floodgates and pouring a deluge of soap kerfuffles and scruffles onto an eager public. It was spanners as dawn as Cain laid into terminally annoying Cameron when he found out about the murderer’s recent engagement.
7.3 million viewers watched the 30th act of violence the village had seen last week, securing a 33% share. The first visit to Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) was up next and Gail’s whirlwind romance was finally beginning to implode. Dashing nonagenarian Nigel Havers has been spinning his web of deceit for a while now and Friday saw him blackmailing Kylie in an effort to get into Gail’s bank account.
8.5 million viewers tuned in for the latest round of Weatherfield drama, securing a 37% share and the biggest audience of the day. Later at 8:30pm, 8.3 million concerned fans showed up to discover the Street’s most trodden-upon lady had been hit again. A 34% share watched as Lewis finally got his revenge and disappeared on the Saga cruise of a lifetime.
EastEnders helped BBC One snatch back the highest share in between Coronation Street. The Walford soap netted an audience of 7.8 million at 8pm as Max Branning managed to make yet another inane life decision. Ah well, at least it’s the last one for the week. An audience share of 33% watched as the bargain bin lothario tracked down his once secret wife, only to find out she was in trouble.
BBC One armed itself with an hour of dark drama at 9pm in an effort to wash away all trace of soapy froth. The second part of a Silent Witness tale, which saw super smart Dr Nikki take a lover, easily beat ITV’s offering in the prime time slot.
5.4 million viewers watched as the body chopper hooked up with a highly suspect powerful man with toffish sinister intentions. On Silent Witness nobody has time for run of the mill boring hook ups, especially when the smell follows you home.
The forensic frenzy secured a share of 24%, performing much better than ITV’s Great Night Out (9pm) a comedy show about characters whose greatest achievement is that they’ll probably end up on Dr Nikki’s slab one day. The Stockport set comedy brought in a respectful 3 million and a lucky share of 13%.
Saturday
The weekend also ushered in a new Six Nations Championship as the action kicked off at 1:30 on BBC One with Wales going head to head with Ireland at Millennium Stadium. 3.3 million people watched Ireland storm through an exciting first half and keeping up a strong defence in the later part of the game as Wales attempted to make a comeback. A share of 30% watched as Ireland beat Wales 30-22, peaking at 4 million viewers in the final moments.
Immediately afterwards at 3:30pm John Inverdale began warming up exciting fans, live from Twickenham. Half an hour later England and Scotland faced each other on the pitch, with the home team getting their Six Nations campaign off to a confident start. An average audience of 5.4 million viewers watched the entire coverage, peaking at 6.8 million in the last half an hour. An audience share of 34% caught the entire action which ended in a 38-18 victory for England.
If that wasn’t your cup of tea, ITV offered up a reprieve at 3:45pm – 663,000 people watched a 19 year old film that nobody wanted to watch in 1994 either. Despite John Goodman’s presence The Flintstones only managed a 4% share.
The sporting heroics continued afterwards though as desperate celebrities donned the tiny golden pants of shame, climbed the diving board and showed the world just how good they were at falling into water. After five long bewildering weeks ITV’s shining scheduling diamond, Splash! (7pm) came to a suitably bizarre end.
The final episode, which saw the three most random celebrities ever competitively fall into water, was the highest rating episode yet. 5.3 million viewers tuned in to see Eddie the Eagle crowned the next Tom Daley, securing an 18% share. Depressingly for the legacy of Saturday night TV, it was this show that secured the day’s biggest audience.
Speaking of depressing scheduling, Take Me Out (ITV, 8:30pm) attempted to distil your Saturday night experience into an hour and 15 minutes of quality TV, just so you don’t have to bother leaving the house. 4 million viewers watched as 30 riled up gobby lasses crawled to the stage of judgement, securing an 18% share.
Over on BBC One at 8:50pm Casualty continued to perform in a functional manner as murders were solved, patients got sick and the staff looked dramatically into the distance during moments of crisis. The busy department sucked in 5.2 million viewers and secured the biggest audience share (23%) in the prime time slot.
Sunday
There was a final helping of Six Nations fun on Sunday afternoon as Italy and France made up the third and final match of the first round. Being in Rome may have bolstered the Italian team’s performance – 3 million viewers watched as they beat France 23-18, resulting in a 20% share. Audience interest peaked in the closing minutes at 4 million viewers.
There was competition of a much different kind over on ITV at 6:15pm as the super peppy Christine Bleakley explained the complicated rules of Dancing on Ice. Her authentic chemistry with Paedogeddon instigator Philip Schofield managed to attract 6.7 million and a 27% share, although this wasn’t enough to beat Countryfile (BBC One 7pm) which managed an audience of 6.9 million.
Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off popped up at 8:30pm and delivered the sad news that Shayne Ward would be returning to obscurity (gracing the cover of lifestyle magazines on a bimonthly basis, no doubt). The results locked in a audience of 5.1 million and a 17% share.
At the same time, Call the Midwife (BBC One) went head to head with Top Gear (BBC Two) – whatever your choice things were going to get loud. 9.2 million viewers decided to roll out their gran and get stuck into an hour of complicated births in London’s old East End.
Last night saw Sister Bernadette help deliver twins to twin sisters Meg and Mave (wait – that doesn’t sound right). The nostalgic trip not only captured Sunday’s biggest audience but the entire weekend’s. Meanwhile the second episode in the current series of Top Gear brought in 4.1 million viewers and a 14% share.
As 9pm finally came around, ladies of the UK were suddenly spoilt for choice.
Cerebral heart throb Professor Brian Cox was back for another episode of Wonders of Life (BBC Two, 9pm). This week the lyrical siren explored the very origins of life in the ocean, protecting himself with nothing but an oxygen tank and some witty facts, delivered with his trademark lilt.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the good professor, who still resembles a school boy lost on a trip, came back up from the seafloor too quickly but it turns out he always talks like that. The fascinating details about our ancient genetically common ancestors netted 2.4 million viewers and a 9% share.
Last night’s Ripper Street stepped thing up a gear in order to get one over on ITVs dapper rival. 5.1 million viewers watched as DI Edmund Reid only took on a bit of international terrorism. Ye olde international terrorism. The Sunday night slice of old world grit pulled in a 20% share, not enough to secure a viceroy over ITV.
Which brings us to the latest adventures of dashing yet frightfully garish American Mr Selfridge (9pm). Last night we saw Harry buy one of them brand new-fangled auto mobiles and attempted to outdrive some traumatic childhood memories. The latest splash of old world glamour brought in 5.6 million viewers to the channel, securing the 9pm slot with a 22% 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.