TV Overnights: Mitchell sisters’ reunion fails to overthrow ITV’s soaps
Wednesday night saw genealogy detective soap Who Do You Think You Are? (9pm) approach the end of another successful run as BBC One’s comedian-in-captivity Sarah Millican unearthed her historical dirty linen for all to see.
So far, series 10 has had many highlights – Aunt Sally cried at every minuscule discovery, Nigel Havers learned he’s of common stock, Minnie Driver got all over-familiar with long lost relatives and Gary Lineker failed to muster a general interest in the whole process.
Last night saw the Geordie caricature snag a free trip to Canada on the licence payer’s expense, discovering tales of ancestral heroism, all the time reinforcing her love of the North East as if it was her own personal brand.
A lower than usual 4.3 million viewers tuned in to find out that life in the olden days wasn’t all corsets and high tea in the garden. The antepenultimate and pedestrian trip through the archives attracted a 20% share, the biggest audience in the 9pm slot.
The fourth series of ITV’s noirish homage to the sinister gas light London of yesteryear continued at the same time. Whitechapel (9pm) was in a race against time to find a sadistic killer (it wasn’t a plot device, it was the second of two parts so they kind of have to).
The latest case to keep perma-growled DI Chandler awake at night involved a murderer who was targeting those poor innocent witches of the East End (not Roxy and Ronnie – they were on earlier in the day).
After a less than impressive start last week, the once popular gruesome procedural failed to find its legs in the second half of the opening story, with 3 million viewers tuning in for some bonkers answers. The latest adventures of the Gothic throwback secured a 14% share.
At the same time on Channel 4 it was business as usual for Kevin McCloud as another ambitious and slightly annoying affluent couple decided to build a giant testament to their ego as the latest series of Grand Designs (9pm) continued.
This was one of those episodes were the couple with high levels of entitlement were really put through the ringer as they discovered that building a Hollywood style home on a small patch of blocked in land in North London wasn’t as easy as they thought.
2.1 million viewers watched the stress levels hit the stratosphere and talk of style and functionality fell by the wayside. The latest architectural misadventure brought in a 10% share and the channel’s biggest audience of the day.
Channel 5 very nearly bettered the council planning carnage on Channel 4 but fell just short as another two broken souls were catapulted from the Elstree Studios. Celebrity Big Brother: Live Eviction saw rabid pirouetting enthusiast Louie Spence and awesome role model Courtney Stodden (no actual idea) flung to the baying crowd, happy to give away every scrap of their soul.
The televised fall of civilisation attracted just under 2 million viewers and a 9% share, resulting in the channel’s biggest hit of the day.
The midweek soap action kicked off earlier on in the day at 7pm, with ITV letting their two heavy hitters out of the trap relatively early. Emmerdale was up first as Debbie Dingle discovered her psychotic murderous boyfriend was just a little more murderous than she had originally factored. 7 million viewers watched as the village bike made the startling discovery, bringing in the day’s second biggest audience.
Refreshingly, the commercial broadcaster only offered viewers the chance to watch just one episode of Coronation Street last night. ITV’s withholding tactics seemed to have worked a treat as 8.5 million viewers tuned in to see Dev turn his acting dial all the way up to ‘wide eyed maniac’ as he finally learned the identity of the Sunita Slayer.
The cobbled carry on easily secured Wednesday’s biggest audience and netted an impressive 41% share.
At 8pm, the ultimate horror of Big Star’s Little Star (ITV) went head-to-head with a feature-length episode of EastEnders (BBC One) – mercifully, the aggressive cockneys beat seven shades out of the manipulative celebrities’ children.
Last night’s double helping of Walford-branded happiness saw the Mitchell sisters reunited (similar to the Mitchell brothers of yesteryear but with an extra X chromosome and more than enough hair to share with the burlier siblings).
Despite the event-feel to last night’s proceedings the E20 aggression was the nation’s third most popular soap, having been beaten by ITV’s rural offering. 6.6 million viewers watched as the peroxide brethren got all teary and snotty (acting shorthand for gritty and real) for the third time this week, bringing in a 30% share.
While the urban soap was trashed by Emmerdale, the BBC can take a little solace in the fact that it beat ITV’s Big Star’s Little Star, a chat show were precocious children, Stephen Mulhern and shameless celebrities are all combined to create the ultimate nightmare.
3.3 million viewers (a bigger audience than ITV’s 9pm offering Whitechapel) turned in for the unmitigated horror of Duncan James of Blue flaunting his eight-year-old daughter for publicity, taking time out from just taking off his clothes to pay the mortgage.
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.