TV Overnights: Man United’s acrobatics display peaks at 10.6m on ITV
Tuesday evening saw yet another character attempt to make a desperate escape from the miserable confines of the EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) compound. After a disastrous custody hearing, Lola fell in line with every other character to grace the streets of Albert Square and made a really bad decision.
Realising that her child, Spawn of Ben, would remain under the watchful eye of evil granddaddy Phil Mitchell, Lola decided that the best thing for the eight month year old child would be a life on the run. The soap went head to head with the first fifteen minutes of the live Manchester United game on ITV and as a result saw its audience fall by 20% night on night.
An average audience of 6.7 million viewers tuned in to see serial destroyer of lives, Ian Beale, setting his sight on another poor female, as the landlord hoped to snare Denise in his love trap, good and proper. The London-based soap secured a 28% audience share.
Despite the non-stop fun that EastEnders had to offer, Tuesday’s TV viewers had their attention formally fixed on the Live UEFA Champions League (7:30pm) over on ITV. Adrian Chiles and his moon-faced brand of bland banter soothed the audience who were hotly anticipating the match between Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The game kicked off at 7:45pm from Old Trafford as home team, Manchester United, put on a sturdy front for the first half of the game. Despite currently lying in bed, heavily sedated, poor old Sir Alex Ferguson may still remember where it all went wrong.
It was all going so well – there was even an encouraging own goal from Real Madrid’s Ramos just after the second half. The tide did change in the 56th minute as Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha (Nani to me and you) decided a complicated aerial attack against Real Madrid would do the trick. Seconds later, the Portuguese player was handed a red card, opening the doors for the Spanish strike force.
An average audience of 8.9 million viewers watched the entire coverage, capturing the biggest audience of the day. Viewer interest shot up towards the end of the game, with a peak audience of 10.6 million viewers watching as Modric and Ronaldo secured an aggregated 2-3 victory for Real Madrid.
Over on BBC One at 8pm, Holby City didn’t seem too badly affected by Manchester United tumbling out of the Champions League, attracting its usual dedicated audience. 4.3 million viewers watched as the staff struggled to balance personal issues and medical emergencies (presumably), netting a 17% share.
In the 9pm slot was the third part of Death in Middle Class Paradise atmospheric thriller, Mayday (BBC One). Last night the paranoia reached feverish levels as former police officer Fiona decided to take matters into her own hands.
The mystery show opened to 6.2 million people on Sunday and despite taking a huge hit on Monday, last night’s audience remained consistent. 4.3 million viewers tuned in the see a whole cast of characters giving us various degrees of shifty, netting a 16% share.
Meanwhile on BBC Two was the fourth instalment of thinly veiled transport propaganda machine, The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track (BBC Two, 9pm). Last night’s exciting episode looked at the adventures to be had on the West Coast Main Line, the most exciting line of them all! 1.6 million viewers spent their Tuesday evening watching sad commuters complain and contemplate suicide, netting a 6% share.
At the same time on Channel 4 was a family that could single handily cause overcrowding on the London to Glasgow line. 16 Kids and Counting (9pm) was the usual exploitive documentary fare from the broadcaster – not quite as horrifying as Channel 5’s output (they all had the right amount of limbs), yet never attempting to reach the highbrow altitudes of a BBC production.
1.9 million viewers (a 7% share) joined together to gawp and point at the Radford family, doing their bit for the planet to reach critically dangerous levels of over population.
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.