TV Overnights: mawkish reunions and giant testicles shine in 9pm slot
The first full week of summer kicked off with a nostalgic nod to our Cilla as ITV saw fit to meddle in people’s personal lives and churn it into quality prime time entertainment.
Not to be confused with the recent and hazardous mutation of Surprise, Surprise, Long Lost Family (ITV, 9pm) has – at least – the ambition to pretend it’s not a schmaltzy throwback show. Even though that’s exactly what it is.
Charisma-free presenting double act, Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell (the latter presumably called upon to add some kind of ‘weight’ to the ghoulish proceedings) were on hand to reunite a lady with her American sailor father. The likely story was the main focus in last night’s episode – the second in the third series.
An impressive 4.8 million viewers signed up for a bit of contrived – yet honest – drama. A 21% audience share tuned in, all in hope of a happy ending. In the end, it was the commercial broadcaster wiping away the melodramatic tears of joy, as ITV secured the 9pm slot with the biggest audience.
At the same time on Channel 4, viewers were treated to a bit of an eye full. The broadcaster’s descent into a grotesque carnival continued apace with the latest Bodyshock Special, all the while masquerading under the critic-neutering ‘educational’ banner.
The Man with the 10-Stone Testicles (10pm) did exactly what it said on the tin, detailing the life of a poor unfortunate from Las Vegas who had a lot of baggage to carry around. The pointing and gawking special certainly did the trick for the fringe channel, with an audience of 3 million viewers (a 13% share) tuning in to find out new and disturbing ways the body can turn against itself.
The divergent nature of last night’s audiences may have been initiated by BBC One’s lack of gravity in the prime time slot, as a repeat of New Tricks (9pm) from 2011 was rolled out from the archive.
The ‘classic’ episode saw the old dogs savagely hunt down some rapists in a chocolate factory (seriously) and was watched by 2.9 million viewers a 13% share.
Earlier at 8pm, Channel 4 had something a little more worthy on offer. The latest instalment of Dispatches pointed its giant magnifying glass towards those ne’er-do-wellers, the Metropolitan Police.
The Police’s Dirty Secret: Channel 4 Dispatches didn’t do itself any favours with the tacky and sensationalist title but the credibility remained intact. The allegations about undercover police infiltrating the family of Stephen Lawrence have been all over the news in recent days but sadly enough it seemed that not many television viewers were that bothered.
Only 1 million viewers caught up with suspiciously photogenic journalist Paul Lewis’ investigation into the Met’s clandestine ways, securing a 5% share.
At the same time on ITV, Adrian Edmondson waddled around The Dales (8pm), meeting genteel folk and generally doing his best Caroline Quentin impression. The Coronation Street sandwich filler justified its existence by bringing in 3.3 million viewers for the half an hour jaunt.
Earlier on in the day, Emmerdale got the slippery soap ball rolling at 7pm on ITV. The latest action from the UK’s most disturbing village attracted 7 million viewers and a 32% share.
The good times were still in full swing for Walford girl Lauren last night as her epic drinking session continued. The first visit of the week to EastEnders secured BBC One’s biggest audience of the day with 7 million viewers and a 32% share.
Back over on ITV, the drama on the country’s most claustrophobic street continued with a double episode.
Life must be tough on Coronation Street – it would probably be hard enough for Tina and Izzy to go head to head for the rights to a newborn baby, but it must be much worse dramatically bumbling into each other every five minutes.
Despite there being two eateries, two corner shops, a pub and some kind of sweat factory, it seems that the two warring wannabe matriarchs can’t escape each other’s panto glare. The first episode at 7:30pm was watched by 8.1 million viewers, while the second helping an hour later brought in 7.6 million.
As usual, Weatherfield’s latest happenings secured the top two spots of the day.
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.