TV Overnights – Prisoner: Cell Block H reboot brings 1.6m to Channel 5
The baby daddy issues at 8 Coronation Street (ITV, 8pm) was the focus of last night’s drama as David Platt’s sorry life continued to get more complicated with the arrival of a new-born baby.
Which was a nice distraction for Weatherfield’s mini tyrant – he’s been unsubtly emoting guilt for many weeks now – although putting your brother in a coma as a result of a failed suicide/murder would do that to you.
The day’s biggest audience tuned into see ineffective matriarch Gail (her kids are running wild!) put the pressure on the Kylie to figure out exactly which one of her sons should be responsible for nappy changes. The cobbled domestic nightmare attracted 7.4 million viewers and a 39% share.
Half an hour earlier Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) got the teatime tension going as village pariah Rhona couldn’t even get an overdose right. After developing a painkiller dependency the village vet learned that mo’ pills, brings mo’ problems.
6.4 million viewers watched as her husband Paddy discovered her poisoned body lying around a sea of empty vodka bottles and a litter of Solpadeine, with the dash to the hospital helping the soap secure a 37% share.
After leading the pack with the teatime soaps, ITV were more than happy to drop the ball and fill a prestigious two hour slot with a repeat of Midsomer Murders (8pm) from January of this year.
This week’s visit to the seriously hazardous county told a tale of some poor victims being attacked by a giant chess piece – which definitely rivals Martine McCutcheon’s death by cheese incident in the wacky stakes.
The two hour schedule-filling extravaganza started out strong with 3.6 million viewers but only 2.4 million viewers were watching as the…eh, giant chess piece was unmasked. On average, the latest barmy instalment netted 2.9 million viewers and a 14% share.
At 8pm the competition from BBC One was fierce as eternally popular cooking show Celebrity MasterChef continued to pull them in. 4.4 million viewers watched as the final eight semi-familiar faces sweated it out for a place in the semi-finals as if their ephemeral careers dependent on it. As well as grabbing the biggest audience for the time slot, the show also netted a 22% share.
In the 9pm slot, stoic national-treasure-in-waiting Nick Hewer stepped up for his turn on the bobsled through the slope of traumatic memory exhumation for BBC One’s popular Who Do You Think You Are?.
There have been many horror stories uncovered over the years but Nick’s admission that he’s from Irish stock must have been very difficult for the stereotypically British man. True to form, the stiff upper lip was engaged and he carried on regardless.
Just over 4 million viewers joined the concierge of House Amstrad’s journey, netting the biggest audience in the 9pm slot and a 19% share.
Meanwhile, BBC Two celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. A little over 1 million people watched as Denzel Washington narrated the build-up to Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream speech, with Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (9pm) nabbing a 5% share overall.
Over on Channel 4, 1.9 million viewers soaked up the pain and anguish in 24 Hours in A&E (9pm).
Later at 10pm, Channel 5 brought us the reboot/reimagining/reengineered (basically they’ve gone and done a Battlestar Galactica) to cult favourite Prisoner: Cell Block H. Coming from down under on a wave of positive buzz, Wentworth Prison opened up its door after 27 years and detailed the imprisonment of meek housewife Bea Smith – with the aim to chronicle her savage rise to Top Dog.
The claustrophobic opening episode was surprisingly hard hitting and attracted the channel’s biggest audience of the day. It’s like Bad Girls never happened. 1.6 million viewers watched as Bea’s first day in her new home went from bad to worse, netting a 10% 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.