TV Overnights: double weekend helping sees The X Factor dominate
This weekend saw Simon Cowell’s unstoppable machine once again dominate the TV schedule – very little can be guaranteed in this topsy turvy world of UK broadcasting but as sure as there’s bound to be a miserable soul in an episode of EastEnders, the Autumn chill will certainly bring another series of the hyperbole that is The X Factor.
Saturday’s epic karaoke action kicked off at 8pm on ITV and immediately set itself apart from all the other weekend offerings – by actually pulling in an audience of note. The fifth episode of the show where people pretend the things they’re doing are really, really important was the day’s biggest hit.
8.7 million viewers tuned in to see Louis, Sharon and the other two official signposts of talent spend their last episode in the closed room auditions. The hark back to old school tactics seems to have gone down well with fans, with the weekend’s first taste of musical aptitude taking in a 40% share.
Unfortunately that was as exciting as it got on Saturday, despite the grey weather. Straight after the desperate search for a sob story to go well with a sing song was the rebooted version of Through the Keyhole (ITV, 9pm), now with added cock jokes.
Our Cilla and general omni-present TV personality Holly Willoughby joined Leigh Francis for a bit of cheeky prime time fun, bringing in the biggest audience in the 9pm slot. 4.3 million drunk viewers (at a guess) tuned in to see the high camp guesswork, resulting in a 40% share.
An hour earlier, neverending A & E nightmare, Casualty, secured the day’s third biggest audience with 4.1 million viewers tuning in to BBC One at 8pm. The latest round of medical and emotional emergencies was watched by a 19% share.
Just to understand how quiet things were outside of the distracting sound and light show that is The X Factor, the fourth biggest hit of the day arrived in the broad form of Alexander Armstrong’s toned down humour in Pointless Celebrities (BBC One, 6:20pm).
3.9 million viewers tuned in to see dart champions, rugby players and that odd tall bloke with glasses all compete for a bit of air time. The show that managed to break out of the barren confines of the daytime BBC Two schedule was watched by a 23% share.
All of this guaranteed that Sunday would be slightly more eventual with at least more than three shows securing more than 4 million viewers. Countryfile at 7pm on BBC One helped raise the Sabbath day’s profile by bringing a guaranteed audience into the living room.
The enticing chance to see Matt Baker let his hair down at a steam fair, Ellie Harrison get her edge on by hanging out with Romanian gypsies and Adam Henson fret about sheep’s nerves was enough to secure 6.1 million viewers and a 28% share.
The victory is even more impressive considering it went up against the fabricated melodrama of Surprise Surprise (8pm) on ITV. Because she obviously has nothing else going on outside work, Holly Willoughby was back for a second series of mechanically reclaimed emotional content featuring bands promoting their new products in between people crying.
Remember the important rule – tears mean ratings! 5.1 million viewers watched as some good deeds were dispensed in between the painful and obligatory celebrity appearances (real people’s problems simply don’t matter as much anymore), resulting in a 23% share.
Fiona Bruce and her army of ornament polishers trekked up to Yorkshire at 8pm on BBC One for another traditional hour of weekend comedown called Antiques Roadshow. The festival of tat netted an impressive 5.3 million viewers and a 20% share.
At the same time, ITV rolled out its biggest weapon of the weekend as The X Factor (8pm) took the bright flashing lights, loud speakers, the voiceover man and all the current hopefuls to Wembley arena for some more of the same.
The winning combination of emotional manipulation, a few catchy tunes and Sharon Osbourne’s face helped keep the interest of the weekend’s biggest audience for an entire hour. 9 million viewers watched as self-positioned evil judge Gary Barlow destroyed some dreams and got those all-important tears flowing, securing a 35% share.
To wrap up the weekend in a comforting style, viewers were offered the chance for some brutal, moody and violent closure and crime dramas What Remains (BBC One, 9pm) and Vera (ITV, 9pm) both came to an end.
4.3 million viewers tuned in for the finale of the house share nightmare that was What Remains. The tale of Melissa, who basically melted into her furniture without anyone noticing for over a year, featured an extremely downtrodden haunted ex-cop David Threlfall feeling guilty for four episodes and brought in an 18% share.
If viewers thought things would be cheerier on the other side then they were in for a disappointment. Brenda Blethyn’s misunderstood yet genius detective Vera treated fans to more indulgent shots of sunny Newcastle as another poor unfortunate lay slain on the street.
4.7 million viewers, the biggest audience in the 9pm slot, tuned in to see the third series wrap up, resulting in a 22% share. 353,000 of those people chose to end their weekend soaking in glamorous high definition shots of Tyne and Wear’s most cosmopolitan city on ITV HD.
The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).