TV Overnights: 7m tune in for Jonathan Creek’s Easter Monday resurrection
Easter Monday treated viewers to a televisual miracle as the BBC saw fit to resurrect a familiar face, as an innocuous detective was let loose from his tomb of seclusion.
If there was ever a show that truly believed in the ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ mantra it would be the adventures of bumbling and coily barneted detective Jonathon Creek (BBC One, 9pm).
Three years since the last Easter special and a whole nine years since the last proper series, last night saw the former magician’s assistant-turned-scooby detective-turned boring businessman dust off his thinking cap to solve ‘one last’ implausible crime.
Despite going up against the well-established Broadchurch(ITV, 9pm), the BBC stalwart pulled in an average audience of 7 million viewers, winning the 9pm slot. A 28% audience share watched as the older, but not necessarily wiser, Alan Davies once again teamed up with Sheridan Smith to solve a mystery more potty than a Mothercare spring sale.
Which meant ITV’s little-show-that-could was finally overshadowed by something a little lighter. Broadchurch has been attracting a strong and steady audience for five weeks now and despite the BBC’s attention grabbing one-off, the dark tale of a murdered child still attracted a durable 6 million viewers.
A 22% audience share watched as dodgy-looking old geezer Jack came under the glare of David Tennant and Olivia Colman’s magnifying glass.
EastEnders (BBC One, 8pm) provided BBC One with the channel’s biggest audience of the day as poor Bianca Butcher entered a brand new level of despair. Last night saw the market trader keep a bedside vigil for son Liam after things got a bit, well, stabby last Friday. 7.5 million viewers caught up with the latest set of woes to befall soap land’s original punching bag, netting a 29% share.
As usual it was all in vain, as a double helping of Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30 & 8:30pm) strutted along and stole all the glory in Easter Monday’s schedule. Despite all the craziness of the recent fire and custody trial there was still time in last night’s hour trip to Weatherfield for some pensioner/ marijuana action.
Racing around like Jack Bauer in a 24 series finale was Roy Croper’s mother Sylvia, who was on a mission to save Rita and Norris from tucking into some special brownies. 9.4 million viewers (a 39% share) tuned in to watch Roy’s café slowly turn itself into an Amsterdam coffee shop, netting Monday’s biggest audience. An hour later, 8.8 million watched the conclusion of last night’s drama as Dev finally got a sliver of good news, pulling in a 33% share in the process.
Stuck in between the double helping of northern drama was serious Irish actor, James Nesbitt, dispensing some more blarney at 8pm. James Nesbitt’s Ireland (ITV) was much like the real Ireland in many ways, although the landscapes were suspiciously bathed in sunshine and the people tended to lean towards the Darby O’Gill school of stereotype without obvious cohesion.
For the third episode of the slimmed-down Bofur’s gentile odyssey through the old country, viewers were treated to the breath-taking views of Blarney Castle itself. 3.9 million viewers were enthralled with sights of the actor interacting with real characters, netting an easy 15% 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.