TV Overnights: BBC Two’s ‘scientific’ feline frolics tops a night of voyeuristic action
Despite all the hullaballoo surrounding last night’s live launch of Big Brother (Channel 5, 9pm), BBC Two’s long running documentary show, Horizon, (BBC Two, 9pm) managed to steal the show.
The surprise turn of events saw the highbrow channel pull the rug from under the rival’s channels with 60minutes of fluffy moggies.
The prestigious scientific show has recently brought viewers mind blowing exposés such as The Truth About Exercise and The Truth About Taste, but nothing prepared viewers for last night’s game-changing revelations in The Secret Life of the Cat.
Using the latest technical trickery, the Horizon wizards tagged 50 cats from a sleepy hamlet in Surrey with the latest GPS wizardry, with a lucky few getting giant webcams wrapped around their necks.
Thankfully, for the sanity of viewers, the resulting activity bore very little resemblance to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mescaline-soaked nightmare.
It must have been worthy scientific gold, as a whopping 4.9 million viewers tuned in to BBC Two and followed the spy cams through the cat flap. An audience share of 22% learned what exactly Mr. Mistoffelees and Rumpleteazer get up to in the dead of night, helping the show gather the biggest audience in the 9pm slot.
As it turns out cats like to fight, hunt mice and generally spend the vast majority of their time sleeping. That’s that sorted then.
As the same time, Channel 5 invited viewers to gaze upon a more selfish, distrusting, coy and needy animal as the 14th series of Big Brother got underway. With Brian Dowling shafted down the same rubbish chute as Nikki Grahame, Emma Willis was on hand to take over presenting duties.
Always a programme to be tasteful and topical, this year’s contestants included a detective who quit his commendable work with Operation Yewtree for an easier life and a chance to expose his chest in public more often.
2 million viewers (a 9% share) tuned in to see The People’s Puppet enter the house to instigate the usual array of personality clashes. This is down from 2.6 million when the last series launched in June 2012.
Over on ITV at 9pm was a cheap and cheerful documentary about three families struggling with day to day life. Happy Families claimed to be an unprecedented look at modern family life but ended up being the lesser of the two CCTV-themed evils.
The programme, which focused on the downtrodden mother in each family, pulled in 2 million viewers, 38,000 more than Channel 5’s live launch. A 9% audience share meant that the very open families were the third most watched reality-based show in the 9pm slot.
Meanwhile, BBC One turned their documentary cameras on subjects a little more worthy. 2.7 million viewers tuned in for disturbing scenes in Live Savers (9pm), which looked at the work of an emergency team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. As the show brought in a 12% share, both BBC One and Two had the biggest success in the prime time slot.
Earlier on in the day, the drama was comfortably scripted as ITV unleashed a double bill of Emmerdale (7pm & 8pm) onto the public.
6.4 million viewers watched to see the aftermath of yesterday’s drink driving misadventure play out, securing a 33% share. The first episode saw ITV peak early as it brought in their biggest audience of the day.
A slightly lower audience of 6.1 million viewers (a 27% share) tuned in to see Cain torch his car as Kerry lay unconscious in hospital at 8pm.
Despite all the observation action later on it was EastEnders (BBC One) that stole Thursday’s crown at 7:30pm. At reckless as they might be, at least Emmerdale‘s youth get to get hammered every now and again. There was no such luck for Lauren Branning as Thursday saw Albert Square’s good time girl locked in her room by her evil mother.
Desperate for a gin and tonic to quench her summer thirst, Lauren scaled outside her window in a desperate escape bid. Not since the disastrous live episode in February 2010 has the BBC stunt team been tasked with mounting Walford’s roof tops.
6.5 million viewers, the day’s biggest audience, watched as Lauren’s escape plan was botched by her old enemy, logic, pulling in a 32% 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.