TV Overnights: Monday’s prime time TV was brought to you by the word ‘harrowing’
Last night, amateur sleuths all across the country were rewarded for eight weeks’ worth of patience as ITV’s superior crime drama Broadchurch (9pm) came to a close.
After sifting through more red herrings than a dodgy trader at Billingsgate Market, viewers finally found out who did away with little Danny Latimer.
The seaside drama has performed strongly over its run with the first episode setting the precedent with just over 6 million viewers. Usually complex crime dramas witness a slight but constant slide in viewers as the weeks go by, as the casual audience feels more and more alienated and confused. Somehow, Broadchurch managed to buck the trend by getting so many things right.
Due to word of mouth and catch up options, the sombre mystery actually managed to finish with its biggest ever audience, a rare thing these days. A very impressive 8.3 million viewers tuned in to see detectives Olivia Colman and David Tennant face some harrowing home truths, resulting in a 32% share.
Apart from avoiding all the crime drama clichés and treating viewers with something other than disdain, the sobering show captured the mood of the nation, lost in a never ending winter and endless bad news. The good news is that Monday evenings can only get cheerier from here on out.
The high levels of viewer engagement were reflected in the Twittersphere too – according to the Social TV Analytics report on Connected Consumer there were 31.6 tweets per every thousand users. Data from SecondSync shows that during and around the broadcast, there were 8,500 tweets per minute for Broadchurch.
There was drama of a very different kind over on BBC One, as we caught up with the second episode of soul destroying documentary The Prisoners (9pm). Monday evening’s bleak trip to HM Prison Holloway focused on three re-offending women who have become completely institutionalised despite their young age.
2.8 million viewers braved the honest look at crime and punishment, grabbing an 11% share.
There was more questionable psychotherapy over on Channel 4 as a spray-tanned brain-fixer called Stelios dished out quick-fix makeovers, both of the house and mind.
The second episode of the current series of The Hoarder Next Door (9pm) featured more tragic stories dressed up as prime time entertainment – it may be wrong but at least we got to see a clean house at the end, more hope than either of the other major channels could offer.
1.4 million people tuned in to see the mentally ill sit around in their own squalor, netting a 5% share – the channel’s biggest audience of the day.
The early evening was all about the soaps with Emmerdale kicking things off at 7pm. The start of a new week saw Debbie Dingle dabble in a spot of kidnapping, revealing her dark intentions to her estranged and terrified Aunt Chas. 7 million people watched the rural tale of murder, sheep dipping and revenge, securing a 34% share.
Straight up afterwards was the first of a double offering of Coronation Street (7:30 & 8:30pm), a tale of Britain’s most disturbingly incestuous area. Last night saw three warring groups of people end up in the same tiny bar, ten steps away from all their houses, as if they weren’t on the doorstep of vibrant Manchester.
8.6 million people watched as Chesney and Katy tried to patch up their relationship (she tried to have a discrete affair with a man who lives three metres away), resulting in a 38% share. The first trip to Weatherfield was Monday’s biggest show.
An hour later 8.2 million returned to the cobbles to see Dev leave his children with Mentally Unhinged Mary, bringing in a 33% share.
In the middle of the Dev Alahan and Roy Cropper sandwich was EastEnders (8pm) over on BBC One. Monday’s bout of forced misery saw thunder c…hild-abandoner Janine Butcher struggle with being back on the Square. The long running drama machine brought in 7.8 million viewers, resulting in the BBC’s biggest hit of the day and a 32% share.
At the same time over on ITV, actor James Nesbitt cringed his way through another jaunt through the lush green hills of Ireland. An impressive 3.2 million viewers watched James Nesbitt’s Ireland as ‘that lovely lad from Cold Feet‘ interacted with real locals, ate some lovely food actually made in Ireland and tried to convince himself he was in New Zealand. Still, the sandwich filler show captured a 13% audience 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.
The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).