Romanians & Immigration Street net an average 1.3m for C4
Last night saw Channel 4 attempt to justify its existence while bolstering its ‘edgy’ brand with a sprinkle of contrived controversy and challenging ‘debate’ with two shows, each of widely varying tone, taking a look at the issue of immigration and integration in modern Britain.
At 9pm the broadcaster reached the halfway point of its short series The Romanians Are Coming, a cheap and easy way to fill the schedule while ticking a few boxes, no doubt eventually leading to a full series order.
The second episode of the sympathetic series continued to challenge prejudices by highlighting some unbelievable tales of hardship, hardwork and sacrifice faced by the Romanians who arrive in the UK looking for a better life.
Last week 1.6 million viewers tuned in to find they were watching a show specifically about the Roma people, not Romanians in general, with yesterday’s second of three parts looking at the harsh living conditions of the show’s carefully selected subjects.
1.3 million viewers watched yesterday’s The Romanians Are Coming, with the tales of exploitation, rough sleeping and TB netting a 6% share.
Something definitely not getting a full series order was Channel 4’s next offering, the lived-fast, died-young controversy of Immigration Street (10pm).
The spiritual successor to Benefits Street had originally set out to film for a whole series but some local demonstrations saw the broadcaster do a u-turn on the new series.
The newly christened one-off spent as much time documenting the troubles faced by the well-heeled production team, whose fondness for pointing cameras at the more gullible among us was interrupted with some on-point concerns from residents.
An audience of 1.2 million viewers watched as the production crew were intimidated by some very angry locals with deep investments in the community being documented, netting an 8% share.
Immigration Street‘s audience size is certainly disappointing bearing in mind the amount of (mostly negative) media attention heaped upon the show in recent weeks. It’s even more inadequate when its taken into consideration that Channel 5’s pale Benefits Street rip-off Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole easily secured 1.8 million the night before.
Even worse, the transparently obvious Twitter-bait didn’t even manage to top the Twitter TV chart, beaten by MTV’s Ex on the Beach (10pm), which was only watched by 300,000 viewers.
Over on BBC One at 9pm, things were a lot lovelier as Mel Giedroyc and Matt Baker joined their light entertainment presenting skills for another episode of cathartic crying show, The Gift. The third episode, in which a man rescued from a tsunami went to search for those that saved his life, secured 2.8 million viewers and a 13% share.
On BBC Two, Inside the Commons (9pm) was watched by 1.5 million viewers, while the painfully hokey Killer Psychopaths (9pm) managed 709,000 viewers and a 1% share on Channel 5.
Earlier at 8pm, Holby City (BBC One) netted 4.6 million, while the interestingly titled Africa’s Fishing Leopards: Natural World was watched by 1.6 million viewers.
On Channel 4, Captain Hindsight herself Mary Portas: Secret Shopper (8pm) brought in 1.5 million and a 7% share while Channel 5’s Costa Del Casualty: Benidorm ER managed another 1% share with 846,000 viewers.
At 7:30pm on ITV, Manchester City faced off against Barcelona in the latest game from UEFA Champions League Live. An audience of 4.9 million tuned in for the entire event, peaking at 6.1 million viewers at 9:15pm.
For the second night in a row, birthday soap EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) locked in the day’s biggest audience as 7.8 million watched people as Peter Beale bowed out of the soap after having an emotional heart to heart with his twin’s deluded murderer, Bobby Beale.
The scenes of Peter leaving the Square of misery behind for a comparatively guaranteed happier existence in New Zealand, netted a 36% share.
The only soap rival was ITV’s show about the UK’s most crime ridden rural community, Emmerdale, which brought in 6 million viewers and a 30% share at 7pm.
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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