The Great Fire dies out with a -52% drop from first episode
Thursday night saw two ‘niche’ period dramas go head-to-head in a prime time confrontation, with both ITV and BBC Two offering up explosive series finales.
After two six-episode series of the critically acclaimed crime drama Peaky Blinders (9pm), last night saw Cillian Murphy’s brummie gang leader, Tommy Shelby, play a blinder against the cocky Cockney crime syndicates of London, pretty much guaranteeing a third series in the process.
While the ratings have been far from stellar (the second series opened with an overnight figure of just 1.7 million viewers at the start of October) critical attention has been intense, with many praising the gritty 1920s political turmoil and aesthetic, despite the ultra-modern garage rock moments littered throughout.
Last night saw the Birmingham gang’s plan for London domination enter its endgame, with all plot strands converging on the 1922 Epsom Derby as Tommy was tasked by Winston Churchill (!) to frame the Irish in the assassination of a Royal Army Officer.
An audience of 1.6 million viewers watched as the killings came thick and fast in the rousing finale, netting a 7% share for BBC Two.
Unfortunately, the same critical acclaim was absent from the four-episode run of ITV’s period offering, The Great Fire (9pm), which divided its characters into either salt-of-the-earth types with sooty make-up or toffish nightmares in garish man-wigs.
Opening up with 4.5 million viewers a few weeks back, last night’s melodramatic finale brought a whopping audience fall of -52% in four short weeks.
Last night’s final episode (a second series is unlikely, historically speaking) found Broadchurch‘s Andrew Buchan as a master baker scrambling around the dying embers of London to save his family and the woman he loves (Game of Thrones and Utopia‘s Rose Leslie) all the while battling those evil posh types.
Just 2.2 million viewers survived the epic disaster all the way to the final episode, netting a 10% share.
But it was the latest instalment of David Attenborough’s current venture that secured the 9pm slot for BBC One. The third episode of Life Story looked at a pack of wild African dogs hunting down a wildebeest on the African plains, as 3.8 million viewers tuned in to see some more beautiful animals destroy each other in glorious HD, resulting in an 18% share.
Meanwhile Channel 4 was offering up its own life (and death) story in the latest heart-warming/traumatising shift in 24 Hours in A&E (9pm). A little over 2 million viewers watched as a flurry of motorcycle accidents came rolling through the doors, translating into a 10% share. A further 380,000 viewers tuned in an hour later on Channel 4+1.
After exposing fraudulent weddings a week ago, last night saw Channel 5 bring back daring Irish investigative reporter Paul Connolly as he explored a world of dodginess in Undercover Benefits Cheat (9pm).
1.4 million viewers watched as Connolly was hooked up with cheap telly and met electricity metre fiddlers and plain old shop lifters, netting a 7% share.
BBC One also did well in the 8pm slot, with 3.8 million viewers tuning in for the latest taste of condescending consumer outrage in Watchdog, while MasterChef: The Professionals (8pm) brought 2.3 million viewers to BBC Two.
Over on Channel 4 at 8pm, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces found the architect meeting more frugal DIY experts thinking big, securing 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
Even earlier at 7pm, ITV aired the first of two episodes of Emmerdale as the new patriarch of Home Farm, Lawrence Wright, was busy plotting some sexy schemes.
6.1 million watched at 7pm as Lawrence approached village floozy, Katie to break up his daughter’s engagement, netting a 31% share. This fell to 5.7 million and a 26% share an hour later as they sorted out the devilish details.
In the end it was the Carter family’s latest woes in Walford that secured Thursday’s biggest audience. 6.3 million viewers tuned in for the latest drama from EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) as Linda Carter faced up to her tragic pregnancy, securing a 30% share for the soap.
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. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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