Corrie finally defeats I’m a Celebrity – ITV still wins
Monday night brought an early start to the omnipresent festivities of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (8:30pm), lining up the reality show to directly clash with the second half of EastEnders‘ (BBC One, 8pm) feature length special.
The first trip to the jungle of the week saw some contestants whip up of a bit of tension, with professional clothes horse, Amy Willerton providing some fabricated drama and lots of tears. An average audience of 8.2 million viewers watched as the running time was inflated to 1 and a half hours, with producers desperate to fill up that schedule.
While the first half an hour was overshadowed by BBC One’s ‘hard hitting’ soap, Ant and Dec’s latest shenanigans in the plastic jungle pulled in the 9pm slot’s biggest audience. A share of 32% tuned in to see Emmerdale‘s Lucy Pargeter look more disgruntled than usual when she realised Amy still had some grievances from the concealer-related witch hunt (yep, it’s that exciting).
A little earlier EastEnders rare foray into extended episodes performed well with Monday’s drama focusing on Bianca’s growing family who were mutating at an alarming rate and – would you believe it? – the gobby flogger of tat’s latest bout of relationship troubles.
The second half of the Albert Square soap lost some viewers to the commercial competition but secured an average audience of 7.4 million viewers and a 30% share.
An hour earlier ITV had a double soap line up of its own, with plain old single editions of Emmerdale (7pm) and Coronation Street (7:30pm). The first visit to the Dales of the week found meek and meandering Laurel having another bad day as her mortal enemy decided to pay her a visit at home. The teatime intimidation attracted 7.3 million viewers and a 35% share.
Straight afterwards in Weatherfield, resident cherub Simon Barlow was having some confidence issues but was still smart enough to see his father’s impending shaky marriage was the stuff of soap cliché and decided to stay well clear.
8.7 million viewers watched as Simon told Peter where to stick his Best Man position, netting a 39% share and the biggest audience of the day.
Meaning that rare occurrence finally happened again – not since The Day of The Doctor has a show come around and actually had the might to beat I’m a Celebrity, which was relegated all the way down to second place.
In the prime time slot, the sleuths of Ripper Street (BBC One, 9pm) were attempting to thwart an all-out religious war in Victorian London (history is fun) and captured a low but steady 3.3 million viewers and a 13% share.
Meanwhile, on BBC Two the fifth episode of The Choir: Sing While You Work (9pm) saw serial choral conductor capering around Canary Wharf waving his arms about with unbridled enthusiasm as he recruited Citibank’s finest voices.
Just over 2 million viewers watched as the PR attempt to change their image by singing Man in the Mirror was squandered by a spate of anti-capitalist protests, securing an 8% share.
Over on Channel 5, marine biologist Monty Halls continued to squander his good work accomplished by the BBC in his latest populist hour of action packed prime time. Monty Halls and the Divers’ Graveyard may have sounded like an Edith Blyton inspired romp but was basically an hour spent watching someone having a much better time than you.
An audience of 734,000 viewers tuned in to see Monty sheath himself up and dive head first into Egypt’s Blue Hole in an attempt see a few aquatic corpses, resulting in a 3% share.
Now that Channel 4 have made it their remit to record every aspect of British life whether anyone wants to see it or not, last night brought the turn of overpriced London tat store Liberty. The first of three episodes introduced viewers to the store’s delightful swarm of professional suck ups, resulting in the broadcaster’s biggest hit of the day.
1.6 million viewers chose to watch Liberty of London (9pm) as the one hour advertisement chronically backfired, leading to a 6% share.
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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.