EastEnders has a rare happy moment, secures 7.1m viewers
Tuesday night saw ITV’s late evening schedule give way to another fresh season of Live UEFA Champions League (7:30pm) action as the group stages got underway. Last night ITV focused squarely on the clash between Manchester United and German adversaries Bayer Leverkusen in the not so neutral surrounding of Old Trafford.
Adrian Chiles and his inoffensive brand of calming banter was back to provide 15 soothing minutes of speculation and filler before the game kicked off properly at 7:45pm. Handsomely paid ball kicker Wayne Rooney managed to secure a point for Man United twenty minutes into the game, the only goal to be scored in the first 45 minutes.
A series of retaliations from both sides in the second half saw the audience peak at 5.7 million viewers, but only 4.4 million ardent fans stayed tuned for the entire two and a half hour running time, resulting in a 19% share.
While this locked in a vigorous audience for the evening slot, the match did leave the door open for BBC to scoop up the remaining viewers with more ‘discerning’ tastes. 8pm was a smorgasbord of anti-football hoopla, although there was just as much drama as the overpaid professionals on ITV but with slightly less hysterics.
BBC One offered up the latest episode of Holby City (8pm) which saw ward nurse Chrissie begin treatment for her cancer. But it wasn’t all heaviness in the Dettol soaked corridors – the BBC’s latest captive comedian, Paul O’Grady, was on hand to add a bit of sass to the oncology ward. The reliable show netted an audience of 4.6 million viewers and a 19% share.
Despite the medical drama’s healthy performance, it was little old BBC Two that managed to secure the 8pm slot, which can only mean one thing – it was time for another helping of twee and friendly blockbuster The Great British Bake Off.
The fifth episode in the current run of the intense – yet always polite and friendly – baking show focused on traybakes (biscuits to most) and pushed many to the edge. 5.6 million viewers tuned in to see the showstopper challenge, the biscuit tower, break a number of contestants, resulting in a 23% share.
Back over on BBC One at 9pm, the tenth series of suspiciously popular crime procedural New Tricks hurtled toward the end as yet another main character thought it was time to ditch the UCOS office. Last night’s episode saw Amanda Redman’s character, Sandra, speak to the ghost of a deceased colleague for a bit of career advice.
If that type of carry on around the work place didn’t want to make you skedaddle, nothing else really would. 6.6 million viewers watched as Redman gave us full-on ‘haunted’ and ‘pensive’ as she had one last case to solve before she left. The problem solving retrospective fun pulled in the biggest audience in the 9pm slot and a 29% share.
Which isn’t a surprise considering the competition. Celebrity Big Brother filler (now that’s a scary thought) Celebrity Super Spa (Channel 5, 9pm) continued to perform dismally but, then again, it is insultingly awful. 512,000 viewers tuned in to see a number of Z-list celebrities do very little except watch their pay cheque clear, pulling in a 2% share.
Over on Channel 4, viewers were offered a chance to see the once-privileged get a bit frugal in Posh Pawn (9pm). 1.6 million viewers were pulled in by the luxury helicopters and designer handbags being flogged in desperation.
After a few weeks of the UK’s television audience losing run of themselves and tuning in to Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) en masse, last night brought a taste of normality – a hark back to a simpler time when viewing habits were more predictable.
The rural soap only managed yesterday’s second biggest audience, witnessing a defeat at the hands of its cockney rival. 6.8 million viewers (a 35% share) watched as Debbie used some techniques – sexy techniques – to pump a bit of information out of socio-path Cameron.
Which means after a rough few weeks EastEnders (BBC One, 7pm) gathered its strength back and pulled itself past the Yorkshire soap.
There’s always something energising about seeing a character from EastEnders pack their bags with the intention of leaving behind TV’s most gruelling postcode once and for all. Although this scenario probably happens at least once every two episodes, it’s even more rewarding when the usually miserable character actually escapes the Walford compound for a sunnier life off screen.
Last night it was the turn of long-suffering Jean Slater, who’s been forced to cry on camera at least three times a week for the past eight years. Tuesday’s offering of grey Walford life saw the put-upon bi-polar barmaid run off to the sun drenched coast for a happier life, securing 7.1 million viewers.
And while Brighton may be far from sunny ten months of the year, life must be a lot brighter than 90% of EastEnders. Producers might be missing a trick here – the BBC One soap was the biggest hit of the day, securing a 33% share. Perhaps weathered fans of the soap are ready for something cheerful to happen every now and again.
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.