TV Overnights: Call the Midwife continues to dominate and destroy
There were few surprises on offer this weekend, with the usual suspects scooping up the biggest audiences. As Call the Midwife marches towards it’s final episode, new arrival Mayday hoped to take advantage of the period show’s popularity.
Friday
As usual, the flood of soaps on offer signalled the beginning of the weekend with Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) capping off a week of drama in explosive fashion. Friday night saw feisty cleaner Rachel hit the town (a quiet night in the Woolpack) for her first date with village simpleton, Sam Dingle. Although there are probably many characters that could easily vie for that title.
Viewers could hardly contain their excitement as the self-conscious pair nervously sipped at their branded ale. The rural soap pulled in the night’s first big audience with 6.6 million viewers and a 33% share.
Straight afterwards on the same channel, Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30 & 8:30pm) focused on the blossoming romance between kebab shop colleagues Katy and Ryan. Anyone that has ever worked in a chip shop can tell you about the ever-present background aroma of stale grease, hardly the perfect setting for seduction.
But Coronation Street deals in fantasy and the pair couldn’t keep their slippery paws off each other. The first visit of the night brought in Friday’s biggest audience as 8.4 million viewers (a 38% share) watched as Katy brought on the wrath of teenage girls around the nation by breaking little Chesney’s heart.
Later, the seriously unfunny family sitcom starring Lloyd and his ready-made clan continued to plod along. The 8:30pm episode saw the taxi cab financier throw the ashes of a dead turtle against the wind! 7.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the hilarity ensue, netting a 30% share.
Jammed in between the double visit to the cobbles was EastEnders (8pm) over on BBC One.
The dingy soap continued to perform its public service remit by comparatively making the nation feel great about their own lives. Ian Beale may be struggling with a number of mental issues lately but holding his son’s 10th birthday in the Queen Vic is just too grim for words.
Meanwhile, in the same corner of the universe where unlikely things happen, unhinged love bot Ayesha continued to disturb and enthral Masood with another declaration of her troubling obsession. 7.3 million viewers, BBC One’s biggest audience of the night, watched the latest Walford action, securing a 32% share.
BBC One jumped straight into prime time mode afterwards as Richard Curtis (him of the silver screen) attempted to manipulate your emotions through images and sound. Mary and Martha (8:3pm) smacked of an earnest international arrangement as the UK and the US handed over their acting treasures to bring a global story to the screens of the little people.
The BBC/HBO mash up saw us hand over Brenda Blethyn, while the Americans generously lent Oscar winner Hillary Swank. 3.4 million people chose to spend their Friday night watching two mothers cope with loosing white children to malaria, bringing in a 15% share.
Much more worthy of your time was the inane celebrity love in, that is an intensive Piers Morgan interview, over on ITV. Which world leader would ol’ Piers be gushing over this week, which powerful dictator could wield such influence and abuse of our media?
Turns out it was only little Lorraine Kelly, a brave, trailblazing person who has selflessly spent her life interviewing vacuous and unworthy subjects for promotional purposes.
Oh. Lorraine must have had a book/single or something to flog. Astoundingly, the life-changing and revelationary hour of television brought in an audience of 3.9 million viewers and a 16% share. Next week, Piers unveils a 170ft statue of Melinda Messenger in place of Nelson’s Column.
Saturday
Comparatively Saturday seemed like a bit of a desolate wasteland with just the usual portions of light entertainment engaging with large audiences.
Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Take Away (ITV, 7pm) arrived just on time, about as nutritious for the soul as a two year old chow mein. Although the Geordie life partners did balance out some of the wrong in the universe by setting up civilised human Jeremy Kyle, who’s greasier than Corrie’s kebab shop and the previously mentioned chow mein combined.
The eerily youthful pair secured Saturday’s biggest audience (it was that kind of day), with 6.7 million viewers tuning in for the second episode from the new series in four years. The harmless bout of fun and games brought in a 30% share for ITV.
Less harmless, more head melting and about as equally pointless was The Cube (ITV, 8:16pm) straight afterwards. Yes, that’s the one where Philip Scofield poses with the intensity of a man who’s about to find the cure for cancer instead of asking strangers to degrade themselves for hard cash in a four metre squared plastic box. The first episode in the sixth series captured the interest of 4.2 million viewers.
Things weren’t much better over on BBC One. Let’s Dance for Comic Relief (7pm) saw married couple/brother & sister Alex Jones and Steve Jones present another round of charity silliness. 4.5 million viewers watched as Vanessa Feltz was rightfully catapulted into space for dressing up like Cher in Turn Back Time, netting a 20% share.
9:15pm saw reliable Casualty (BBC One) face off against Jonathon Ross and his chummy celebrity mates. The latest visit to Holby City saw Big Mac (the fat one) finally take part in the half-marathon, with the Saturday night staple bringing in 4.8 million viewers for BBC One, resulting in a 22% share.
The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV, 9:15pm) served as a promotional platform for Food Glorious Food which tasked personality backhole, Carol Vorderman, with the unenviable of flogging her culinary series. 3.3 million viewers stayed tuned in, thanking the gods for the chat show’s multi guest format.
Sunday
If there’s an unspoken industry secret that Saturday belongs to Casualty then Countryfile (BBC One, 7pm) would have to be the Sunday equivalent. The general public have such low expectations of both shows that it’s always a surprise when they constantly continue to perform impressively.
And perform it did – 7 million viewers watched as Matt Baker visited the world’s first hydro electric house, securing a 28% share.
Dancing on Ice (ITV, 6:15pm), which is apparently still on, captured and audience of 6.7 million, as Gareth Thomas had to pull out of the competition. Later, 5 million people tuned in for Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off (ITV,8:30pm) as two Olympians and an EastEnder made it through to the final.
Mr Selfridge‘s (ITV, 9pm) madcap style of management proved too grating for one former member of his staff as Miss Bunting decided that a leap in front of a tube carriage at Bond Street was more appealing than another day of job searching in retail. Which is fairly understandable.
5 million viewers watched as the lady’s death sent shock waves through the department store, netting a 20% share.
Call the Midwife once again came along and overshadowed all the other fine shows on over the weekend. The latest episode about the lives of Poplar’s good post-war time girls saw Chummy return from her travels. Much like Chummy, the show towered above its rivals, netting the biggest audience of the weekend with 9.2 million viewers and a 31% share.
This was followed by the very latest five part mystery drama, the likes of which seem to be spat out by various broadcasters with alarming regularity. There’s no better way to wind up a long week by getting lost in the murder of a young girl and trying to figure out which of her loved ones did it.
Mayday (BBC One, 9pm) may have been stylishly indistinguishable from other offerings in the genre but provided a solid mystery to get into. 6.2 million viewers watched as a parade of familiar faces jumped about the screen, waving their hands and screaming ‘it was me!’, vying for your suspicion and contempt. The first of the five episodes, which will be broadcast all week, snared a share of 25%.
Meanwhile The Only Way is Essex (ITV2, 10pm) only pulled in 761,000 viewers but ITV would still have us convinced it’s a cultural beacon of popularity. Still, it was the most Tweeted about show last night, a clear sign humanity’s demise is still on track.
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.