TV Overnights: Coronation Street’s latest stunt secures Monday evening for ITV
It’s been at least a couple of weeks now since something caught fire or exploded in Weatherfield, so last night’s stunt episode must have come to some relief for Coronation Street‘s (ITV) itchy fans.
After racking up the tension for many, many months now, the start of a fresh week in soap land saw Gail Potter Tilsle Platt Hillman McIntyre’s male spawns face a fall out of epic proportions.
The first episode at 7:30pm easily secured the day’s biggest audience with 8.4 million viewers watching as Nick discovered his big impregnating-the-sister-in-law secret was out. The full fury of David’s wrath – which saw the mini manic Manc force the car he and Nick were travelling in to make a detour into the face of an oncoming lorry – attracted an impressive 41% share.
The outcome of the violent automotive misadventure at 8:30pm was down a few hundred thousand viewers compared to earlier, with a 36% share tuning in to see if producers had the sufficient dangly bits to kill off either character, pulling in the day’s second biggest audience. 8.1 million viewers collectively found out that…no. No, they didn’t.
While Coronation Street‘s draw was almost guaranteed, it was ITV’s other soap that provided Monday’s surprise. Building on last week’s success, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) netted 6.9 million viewers and all they had to do was include a few dodgy drugs and a bucket of bloody vomit.
Monday’s third biggest audience watched as jittery vet Rhona indulged in some low quality products, resulting in a very messy toilet and a 36% share.
Over on BBC One at 8pm, EastEnders introduced a brand new sassy character, Saddie – she’s a powerful lady who’s not afraid to speak her mind and stir things up…and so on and so forth. While the London soap performed better than it has recently, 6.7 million viewers were not enough to compete with ITV’s soapy offerings.
A 31% share meant that the soap provided BBC One with its only winning share in the time between 6:30pm and 10pm.
At 8pm, Channel 4 – the defiant beacon of truth and justice in an otherwise murky world – went ahead and ignored instructions from The Man and aired Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans: Channel 4 Dispatches. The shocking, game-changing investigation revealed that celebrities tweet s**t and don’t have very many morals. 865,000 sheltered viewers were outraged.
Later on in the big leagues, Long Lost Family (ITV, 9pm) continued to meddle in peoples’ lives, ambushing long lost individuals in a desperate bid to construct some kind of dramatic moment. The manipulative reunion show, one part WDYTYA? and two parts Surprise, Surprise, has been a consistent hit for the channel and last night was no exception.
5.1 million viewers watched as Davina McCall and faux human Nicky Campbell unconvincingly pretended to be personally invested in each victim’s guest’s journey, joining up to tag team the emotionally fragile participants and wrestle them into a teary submission.
The entire hullabaloo, bookended by some horribly misjudged indents featuring actors pretending to abandoned orphans, secured the 9pm slot with a 23% share.
At the same time on Channel 4 was the second part of thoughtful and powerful drama Southcliffe (9pm), which was a bit like Broadchurch but just much more Channel 4-y. It says something really intelligent about the state of the country and the media. Apparently.
The slow burning introspective tale dealing with the aftermath of a small town shooting,was watched by 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
Meanwhile BBC One was trying to single handedly save the UK from crisps and laziness with the horrendous Long Live Britain (9pm), presented by Julia Bradbury (who may have been asleep) and the energetic Phil Tufnell.
Surprisingly, 2.7 million viewers (a 12% share) watched the condescending public health alert about the UK’s most preventable diseases in which the obese former EastEnders actor Ricky Grover learned he was extremely unhealthy. Money well spent, then.
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.