TV Overnights: A night of finales sees BBC Two’s The Fall end on a high
The start of a new week brought an evening of tearful finales as four prime time shows slipped quietly into the good night.
For the fifth consecutive week in a row, BBC Two ran away with the 9pm slot thanks to psychologically grungy thriller The Fall. This must have been particularly difficult for rival ITV, considering the failure of their much vaunted Monday night comedy line-up.
The past few weeks would seem to indicate that TV audiences would much prefer to embrace their start of the week with misery than smooth over the pain with frothy, yet biting throwback sitcoms.
BBC Two’s bleak and controversial serial killer drama went off on a high note, pulling in its biggest audience to date. The final episode saw Gillian Anderson’s shrewd cop Stella come extremely close to an ‘everyman’ killer hunting down the women of Northern Ireland.
Already commissioned for a second run, the dramatic closing moments avoided the need to wrap things up neatly, instead leaving viewers with the now familiar feeling of uneasiness. So far, the episodes have averaged at 3.3 million viewers – enough to fend off Monday night’s competition.
The final desperate endgame, which brought the murderer and the hunter closer than ever, was watched by 3.7 million viewers and resulted in a 16% share.
Next to wave goodbye (possible for good, though) were Stuart and Freddie, the extremely divisive stars of Vicious (9pm). The final showcase of their sniping saw the time-worn couple in a celebratory mood (as were many Monday night viewers, no doubt) as they celebrated their 49th anniversary.
The show, which has proved too hateful for some, attracted a lot of debate and walked the thin line between kitsch and offence and saw the ratings drop by 47% over six weeks.
The dusty sitcom probably would have been a huge cult hit if it aired in the post-pub slot on Channel 4 but was politically distracting in the ITV prime time spot. 2.8 million viewers tuned in to see Dame Judi Dench thread the studio boards, making sure the final nail was firmly secured in the show’s coffin, resulting in a 12% share.
The final episode of The Job Lot followed at 9:30pm. The Office-inspired sitcom didn’t garner such varied opinions as its companion show and instead slowly faded into the background. Set in a job centre and featuring a lot of Russell Tovey doing his bumbling nice guy shtick, the sitcom fell from the opening 4.5 million viewers to last night’s 1.9 million.
Doing slightly better over on BBC One was the second part of D-Day: The Last Heroes at 9pm. Last night’s final episode (stretching that a bit now) saw the thinking woman’s crumpet, Dan Snow, perfect his serious presenter face as he dealt with sobering hard facts. 2.6 million viewers (a 12% share) returned to the beaches of Normandy to understand the meticulous planning that helped the Allied Forces turn the tide of the war.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 treated viewers to yet another standalone episode of My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (9pm) because, it would seem, we can’t get enough. The latest part of the ‘documentary’ brought in the channel’s biggest audience of the day with 2.8 million viewers and a 12% share.
Over on Sky Atlantic, relieved fans made it through the series three finale of Game of Thrones (9pm) without any soul-destroying surprises. Only 736,000 people watched live (a 0.3% share) amid stories that the episode was already the most pirated show of 2013.
Earlier in the day, ITV ruled supreme with its cornucopia of choice soap action as Emmerdale lulled the viewers in at 7pm, securing an audience of 6.7 million and a 36% share.
EastEnders turned its recent tide of fortune at 8pm on BBC One, netting 7 million viewers and a 36% share.
Once again, ITV’s northern soap reigned supreme over challengers as the first episode of Coronation Street won 8.3 million viewers at 7:30pm, resulting in a 40% share.
Not only has it continuously outpaced its soap rivals, but Monday saw Coronation Street continue to go from strength to strength. For once, last night’s second episode held on to the same amount of viewers as the first.
No matter how many big scale disasters or endangered characters a double bill has offered, traditionally viewers always thin out for a second helping, making the impressive feat all the more notable.
8.3 million viewers once again tuned in at 8:30pm but the second episode’s share was down to 36%.
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.