EastEnders anniversary week kicks off with over 9m viewers
After 307 days of agonising mystery, misdirections and even more murders, last night saw long-suffering fans of EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) finally rewarded for their enduring loyalty with a partially live episode kicking off a ‘week of revelations’.
Bookended by two live scenes which were highlighted by the onscreen #EELive hashtag, last night’s trip to Walford saw the unusually close-knit metropolitan community come together to prepare for Ian Beale’s 52nd wedding ceremony.
Opening up with an exterior live scene which featured the return of Barbara Windsor’s Peggy Mitchell and the introduction of Richard Blackwood’s new scowling bad boy, the episode then returned to pre-recorded tension-building scenes before going back to live broadcast for the final minutes.
Building up to Friday’s completely live episode, yesterday’s final few moments saw a character finally utter the words ‘…you killed Lucy’, although fans were quick to take to Twitter to cry foul.
Either this was yet another red herring (E20 must be proper stinky at this stage) or – even worse – Max Branning actor Jake Wood once again fluffed a live line, with many viewers suggesting he was meant to say ‘…who killed Lucy’.
Either way, the much publicised anniversary week got off to a rollicking start, unsurprisingly topping the TV Twitter chart but also managing to attract it’s largest live audience in quite some time.
A little over 9 million viewers tuned in to see if the show was really going to finally throw the viewers some actual answers so early in the week, resulting in a massive 40% share and the day’s biggest audience.
The repeat on BBC Three at 10:30pm secured a further 532,000 viewers and a 4% share.
Outside of the grimy guilt-ridden urban nightmare of BBC One’s soap, there was also some more soapy manslaughter-related brooding over on Emmerdale (7pm).
A week after Katie’s demise, yesterday’s episode saw guilt-ridden Robert Sudgen attempt to play it cool while her former fiancée Andy Sudgen struggled to contain his grief. The latest drama from the Dales netted 5.7 million viewers and a 28% share.
Afterwards, BBC One’s Holby City ruled over the 8pm slot with 4.9 million viewers and a 22% share while Alex Polizzi – The Fixer (BBC Two) attracted 1.9 million viewers (a 9% share) into her web of straight-talking insolence.
The majority of ITV’s evening schedule took place live from the Parc des Princes in Paris as presenter Mark Pougatch attempted to waft the stank of Adrian Chiles out of the portable studio for the latest unpredictable clash of Live UEFA Champions League (7:30pm).
The game between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea kicked off at 7:45pm and secured an average audience of 4.2 million viewers, peaking at 5.6 million viewers as the game entered the final 15 minutes.
At 9pm on BBC One, it was time for the second episode of the Mel Giedroyc and Matt Baker-fronted emotional show, The Gift.
It could be quite easy to be cynical about a show that attempts to package random people’s emotional extremes into feel-good, cathartic television, but the show about paying respect to chance acts of kindness is nowhere near as patronising and manipulative as it could be.
Far removed from the day-glo horror of ITV’s brand-sponsored opportunity ‘thank yous’ on Surprise Surprise, last night’s episode of The Gift saw a 56 year old man attempt to apologise to someone he bullied in school and a woman looking for her bone-marrow donor.
Falling from last week’s audience of 3.6 million, yesterday’s slice of dogoodery brought in 3.3 million viewers and a 15% share.
On BBC Two, Inside the Commons (9pm) continued with an episode entitled Party Games. Which sounded much more fun that it was.
1.7 million viewers tuned in for the third of four episodes, which followed the person responsible for keeping all 2000 of the Common’s clock running at the same time, netting an 8% share.
In a week which saw Channel 4 come under fire for the planned Immigration Street (leading to protests in Southampton) and one day after Ofcom received numerous complaint regarding UKIP: The First 100 Days, the channel was back ‘pushing boundaries’.
The Romanians Are Coming (9pm) followed a similar format to the flurry of benefit-themed shows that have been clogging up Channel 4 and Channel 5’s schedules for what seems like forever now, attempting to give a ‘balanced’ view of the increasing Roma community.
1.6 million viewers tuned in for the skewed vision that semmed to believe that most of Romania looks like the apocalyptic waste land from The Terminator, resulting in a 7% 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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