TV Viewing Round-Up: March 2013

Coming straight from the Cold Feet stable of ‘I can’t believe this is on ITV’, new eight-part drama series Broadchurch proved to be somewhat of a ratings smash for the commercial broadcaster.

Featuring a full to bursting all star cast headed by David Tennant and Olivia Colman, it was centered on the investigation into the murder of an eleven-year-old boy in the fictional eponymous town (are all new crime dramas based on the murder or disappearance of a child?).

With audience ratings of at least 8 million, the critically acclaimed mystery drama from playwright Chris Chibnall has given ITV something else to be proud of.

Elsewhere, the one-off revival on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway of the hosts’ former monikers PJ & Duncan saw the light entertainment extravaganza rake up a sizeable viewing audience, while the bi-annual charity hug-a-thon that is Comic Relief attracted a healthy audience, despite dubious claims of being ‘funny for money’.

Among the various events this year was selfless popstar-cum-reality show judge Jessie J who shaved all her hair off after raising £500,000 live on air, which helped the charity reach a colossal total of £75 million by the close play.

Featuring sketches including Rowan Atkinson’s One Direction obsessed Archbishop of Canterbury and a spoof edition of Call The Midwife, it reached an average audience of 10.3 million for the pre-news section of the all night extravaganza.

BBC One’s somewhat unnecessary and borderline dull adaptation of the novel The Wheel Spins /remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes defied my cynicism and pulled in the ratings this month.

Starring Tuppence Middleton and Tom Hughes, the latest version of the disappearing governess followed the novel’s plot more than the Hitchcock classic, which possibly explains why it felt so underwhelming.

Whatever liberties the Master of Suspense took with original source material, at least it made for an exciting film. The viewing public didn’t seem to mind as 7.5 million watched from start to finish.

Kay Mellor’s lottery based drama The Syndicate returned for a successful second series, with a new batch of big ticket winners, each with their own storyline of secrets, woes and despair.

With a stellar cast including Mark Addy and the near national treasure Alison Steadman, once again we got to delve into the lives of ordinary folk who got rich thanks to the selection of some random lottery numbers.

The opening episode, which set up the premise of the five hospital workers each winning a share of £72 million, attracted the highest audience of 6.5 million.

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