Lack of fun and games nets The Apprentice 6.4m on BBC One
Wednesday night’s main event saw supposed capitalist overlord The Right Honourable Lord Sugar return with his hoard of overzealous minions as they gathered together on the battleship HMS Belfast for another round of daft marketing decisions on The Apprentice (BBC One, 9pm).
The sixth episode of the tenth series saw the eager, confident, backstabbing, buzzword-spouting young things tasked with creating, promoting and selling one of those board game things that are currently all the rage with the youth.
As usual, the excruciating execution netted the timeslot’s biggest audience, with 6.4 million viewers tuning in to see team Tenacity create the world’s most banal and pointless board game. The unbearable gender-based quiz helped the audience – who made up a 28% share – recoil in horror.
Over on Channel 4, another bunch of eager chancers were attempting to push their random wares onto unsuspecting clients, although Liberty of London (9pm) could at least afford to be a little choosier of who it shamelessly pandered to.
After 11 long agonising months, everyday viewers were welcomed back through the doors of the high-end Regent Street store, reuniting them with the ‘classic’ characters that lurk by the retail stands.
The first series had a bit of roller-coaster ride, opening with 1.6 million viewers back in December of last year and but quickly fell to 1 million before jumping back up to 1.7 million viewers for the grand finale.
Either way, the exercise in passive observational brand promotion must have worked out for some of the parties involved, with last night’s series two début securing a little over 1 million viewers and a 5% share.
At the same time, ITV offered up a very bitter antidote to all the merchandising madness on the other channels with the concluding part of a documentary with some actual substance.
After pulling in 2.6 million viewers last week, the final half of Broadmoor (9pm) focused on the rehabilitation and release of prisoners but saw a small drop in interest. Last night 2.3 million viewers watched as previously violent offenders tried to get their life back on track through therapy and medication, leading to a 10% share.
Over on BBC Two, Michael Portillo managed to secure the exact same audience as the psychotically dangerous men on the other side, something which must be a random coincidence.
The second episode of the third series of Great Continental Railway Journeys (9pm) saw Portillo carry his privileged private schoolboy persona into his 60s as he took viewers on a trip from Rome to Sicily.
2.3 million viewers tuned in for the latest journey, with plenty of flirtatious sight-seeing in Rome beforehand, as the latest SAGA adventure secured a 10% share.
On Channel 5, there was the latest helping of grimness, with a documentary about dealing cruel comeuppance to the financially unfortunate, Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away! (9pm). The penultimate episode of the ten part series was watched by 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share.
Earlier at 8pm, the unprofessional staff of Waterloo Road (BBC One) brought in 2.8 million viewers and a 13% share, while MasterChef: The Professionals did one better on BBC Two with 2.9 million viewers and a 14% share.
Over on ITV, Holly Willoughby and that lucky boy she helped to free from JLS, Marvin Humes, were back for another hour of GUARANTEED EMOTIONS on Surprise Surprise (8pm). The time slot’s biggest audience tuned in to see television executives commercialise real-life family tragedies, netting 3.5 million viewers and a 17% share.
On Channel 4, the convoluted ‘reality’ of Posh Pawn (8pm) garnered an audience of 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
Even earlier in the world of soap, Hollyoaks (6:30pm) brought in 1.1 million viewers on Channel 4 as the unlucky community of Chester faced yet another apocalyptic, wedding-based disaster. An audience share of 5% tuned in to see a train explode, just for the hell of it.
The next episode on digital channel E4 actually managed to outshine its terrestrial counterpart, with 1.1 million viewers and a 6% tuning in to see survivors sift through all the tattered hair extensions and floating false eyelashes for signs of life. Best looking to another soap, then.
At 7pm, Belle Dingle was still struggling with the consequences of being a teenage killer, with Emmerdale (ITV) securing 6.2 million viewers and a 31% share.
But it was ITV’s other soap that won Wednesday’s top spot as Coronation Street (7:30pm) decided to spend a little more time on Carla and Peter’s continued year-long break up. Somehow, the scenes of a tearful Carla confirming that, yes, they’re still not a couple brought in 7.5 million viewers and a 36% share.
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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