TV Overnights: Sharon wins the battle of the pill-poppers for BBC One
As viewers struggled with the Tuesday blues, soap characters turned to illicit vices to get them through last night. Drug taking appeared to be all the rage in the soaps with Emmerdale (ITV) kicking off the frenzy of increased sensitivity at 7pm.
Rural boredom got the better of veterinarian Rhona as she upped her game from simple painkiller addiction to dabbling in a spot of kitty Valium. 5.8 million viewers tuned into see her colleague, Vanessa, threatening to go full-narc and expose her wicked habits.
The Dales soap’s latest adventures in self-medication pulled in a 32% audience share and was the second most watched show of the day.
Straight afterwards over on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm), Sharon Stretton-Watts-Mitchell-Rickman was still struggling with her gateway medication dosage as she enjoyed an unplanned bout of unconsciousness. Unfortunately, she was looking after a baby at the time.
Thank the soap Gods then for arrival of evangelical former crack-head Phil Mitchell, who swooped in and snatched the bottle of pills from Lexi’s hands in the nick of time. With the Mitchell family’s history of dependency it’d be ill-informed to start her off that young.
A 35% audience share watched as the born-again patriarch of Albert Square got all ruddy-faced and advised his on/off again concubine to vacate his property ASAP. Because no interaction on EastEnders can be executed in a calm and reasonable manner, Phil dealt with Sharon’s pill problem in a predictably ostentatious manner.
6.7 million viewers watched as Phil kicked bleary-eyed and confused Sharon’s oxycontin-riddled arse out on the filthy streets of E20, securing the biggest audience of the entire day.
BBC One held on to the biggest audience at 8pm, with Holby City attracting 4.7 million viewers and a 22% share. At the same time, 1.9 million viewers (a 9% share) tuned in to see Caroline Quentin wander around another random national park in Caroline Quentin’s National Parks (ITV, 8pm).
In the all-important 9pm slot, BBC One continued its winning streak with the second episode of the perky representative of ‘real’ women, Frankie. An audience share of 19% watched as the mouthy district nurse made her rounds, while balancing her ever-pesky love life.
4 million viewers (down from 4.6 million week on week) caught up with the latest home visits, securing the 9pm time slot.
Over on ITV, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The People Play (9pm) continued its short run, with the third and final episode of the revamped, yet still dusty, format. While the familiar game show (with a bit of App talk thrown in to mix things up) didn’t exactly set the audience’s interest alight, it has managed to attract a consistent following.
Last night’s flogging of an old -yet safe- horse brought in 2.3m to ITV, resulting in an 11% share.
Elsewhere Channel 5 steeped up to challenge Channel 4 as an American import gave Mary Queen of the High Street (9pm) a run for its money. 1.1 million viewers (a 5% share) watched as retail tyrant, Mary, visited a town in Cornwall where the high street was being devastated by the arrival of a wicked and colossal supermarket.
For once Northern and Shell’s little station, Channel 5, pulled one over on its nearest rival with the airing of the second part of an American prime time crossover special. CSI: Vegas Meets New York (9pm) saw all your favourite indistinguishable and interchangeable characters interact and interchange with each other.
The earth shattering event pulled in 1.8 million viewers and an 8% 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.