Call the Midwife anchors a solid Sunday for BBC One
Sunday evening brought a triumphant return for rose-tinted sentimental birthing drama Call the Midwife (BBC One, 9pm) as those plucky nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House were back spurning on the overpopulation of 1950’s East End with gutsy post-war aplomb.
While the final episode of the nostalgia-fest’s third series brought in 8.2 million viewers in March, it looked like the posh natal professionals were struggling on Christmas Day as the annual longer-than-usual special only managed to secure 6.8 million viewers.
To appeal a bit more to the available youth audience, Fresh Meat‘s Charlotte Ritchie has been added to the roster of midwives – hangover and everything – to add a bit of friction and fresh air to proceedings.
An audience of 8.3 million viewers tuned in last night to catch up with bumbling nurse Chummy (Miranda Hart), glamour puss Trixie (Helen George) and the severe Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), easily securing its time slot with a 33% share and anchoring a very strong night for BBC One.
Afterwards things were bleaker in the slightly more grounded Last Tango in Halifax (9pm) with BBC One offering an hour of tearful mourning as a way to end viewers’ weekends.
Up until recently, writer and creator Sally Wainwright had managed to carve a unique bittersweet tone for the series. But the shocking events of last week’s episode saw the show careering into grim (and more familiar) territory, with yesterday’s slice of family drama featuring more anguished tears than five minutes of sibling drama Happy Valley.
The biggest audience in the 9pm slot tuned in to see elderly newlyweds Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid) deal with yet more issues seemingly destined to tear their extended families apart.
6.2 million viewers watched as Celia mended some broken bridges with her devastated daughter Caroline (Sarah Lancashire), resulting in a 26% share.
Earlier on BBC One, empty-hearted sequel Shrek The Third was watched by 2.2 million viewers at 4:10pm, while Sunday staple Countryfile (6:30pm) secured a little over 7 million viewers and a 32% share.
Rebooted/jigged/madeformed archaic sitcom Still Open All Hours (7:30pm)came before BBC One’s night of drama with David Jason reprising one of his oldest roles, bringing in 7.1 million viewers, a 30% share and helping BBC One net the top six shows of the day.
Elsewhere, things were a little less exciting on BBC Two with Live Snooker: The Masters (12:50pm) capturing an audience of 1.4 million viewers, with another 1.9 million (an 8% share) tuning in again at 7pm.
Meanwhile on ITV, fans of long-running cult favourite Foyle’s War (8pm) were going through some tough times as it was recently announced that last night’s ‘latest’ two hour instalment would be its last.
Already cancelled twice before, Sunday saw the critically acclaimed cold war spy drama at the height of its powers, weaving another conspiracy-based plot with quality performances and solid scripts.
Whether this is truly the end for the 13 year old MI5 drama remains to be seen, but last night’s ‘grand finale’ got as much acknowledgment as the under-appreciated Christopher Foyle himself, with the two hour drama bringing in 3.5 million viewers and a 14% share.
Over on Channel 4, the broadcaster’s latest suspect documentary continued to capture the comings and goings of Britain’s ‘real-life Fawlty Towers’ (ugh) on The Hotel (8pm). An audience of 1.3 million viewers watched as real people played up the ineptness slightly, resulting in a 5% share.
Afterwards, explorer and photographer Levison Wood continued to get Channel 4 to pay for his latest gap year jaunt with the third episode of Walking the Nile (9pm). 1.7 million viewers watched the third of four episodes as ‘Lev’ progressed through a quarter of his 4,200 mile journey, resulting in a 7% share.
Meanwhile, Channel 5 continued to broadcast Celebrity Big Brother (9pm), with the weekend seeing depressing role model Katie Price enter the house while Alexander O’Neal quit.
Last night’s sign of a failing society saw 2.8 million viewers (an 11% share) tuning in and to make Channel 5’s biggest audience of the day, while many viewers somehow managed to divide their attention with Twitter.
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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