An old face on EastEnders beats New Tricks’ fresh line up
The beginning of a new month brought the same set of problems for the sorry folk of Albert Square as David Wicks stepped up his campaign to be Walford’s biggest bad boy.
Left bruised and bloodied after a proper EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) welcome, the prodigal Lothario secured a roof over his head by using his special powers – it’s no secret that his stunning bronzed appearance enables him to manipulate lady-feelings to his advantage.
Tuesday’s edition of the London soap saw the returning villain somehow get his wronged ex Carol to take care of him due to a soap-standard display of emotional manipulation.
But no matter the character’s multiple misfortunes, there was an unusual turn of events in the real world which gave EastEnders a rare moment of celebration.
Although only 6.8 million viewers tuned in for Tuesday’s fun festivities, it proved enough to defeat solitary soap rival Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) along with any of the 9pm offerings. The spawn of Pat Butcher’s latest bout of domestic evil doing secured a 32% share.
A fickle bunch, these soap fans. Recently rural soap Emmerdale has been bringing in a strong audience with a mixture of drug addiction and teatime violence, usually beating BBC’s soap. However, last night’s slice of village tranquillity only secured (a still sturdy) 6.5 million viewers and a 34% share.
Straight up afterwards on the same channel was Live UEFA Champions League (ITV, 7:30pm) as the Group H match between Celtic and Barcelona was beamed all the way from Glasgow. Adrian Chiles was on hand with his quality brand of natter, happy to guide viewers through the ins and outs of getting the ball in the net.
An average audience of 3 million viewers (a 13% share) tuned in to see the 1-0 victory for the away team, with Cesc Fàbregas scoring in the 75th minute. Interest peaked at the opening of the second half, with 3.6 million fans tuning in for that 15 minute time slot.
Later at 9pm, a new team line-up kicked off their first proper outing as the new look New Tricks (BBC One) crew got their crime solving caps on. The final episode of the successful and eventful 10th series saw new boss Tamzin Outhwaite (who brings the average age down by about a century) ticking those procedural show clichés by having personal connections to a new case.
Surprisingly the finale didn’t perform as well as recent episodes – Rodney’s addition to the team brought in 7.5 million, while last week Tamzin’s debut secured 7.1 million. Last night, only 6.8 million viewers watched the young, beautiful people of UCOS (and Dennis Waterman) get the bad guy (and a 30% audience share).
Meanwhile, somewhere at the bottom of the barrel, Channel 4 broadcast the latest instalment of its (relatively) hit series all about celebrating diversity. Only a week after lucky fans got to see diversity in action at ladies day, last night brought along My Big Fat Gypsy Christening (9pm) which should need no introduction whatsoever. 1.9 million viewers and an 8% share showed up for the proceedings. Just be thankful Channel 4 will soon be running out of occasions to exploit share with different walks of life.
BBC Two once again had a solid Tuesday, with Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and a tent load of nerves seeing The Great British Bake Off bring in 6.3 million viewers at 8pm. The second episode of James Corden vehicle The Wrong Mens dropped 1 million viewers compared with last week, with a total of 2.1 million viewers tuning in for the comedy thriller hijnks.
Later at 10pm, Channel 4 offered viewers a second helping of soul destroying abomination London Irish. Coming off like some kind of extreme sensory torture with frequent piercing noises, the horror show (which at some point, someone must have described as ‘comedy’) dropped below last week’s 1 million to capture 641,000 confused and anguished spectres.
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.