BBC Two sees 30% of viewers Banished after one week
Just one week since its début, Jimmy McGovern’s latest drama – a harsh look back at the very arduous early days of modern Australia – suffered a severe -30% drop in viewers, as Banished (BBC Two, 9pm) really began to live up to its name.
Focusing on the first penal colony set up by the British in 1788, the tale of convicts attempting to live side by side with Royal Navy marines brought in 3.4 million viewers just one week ago as the settlement found its feet.
After narrowly avoiding a hanging and risking everything all for the sake of love, the second episode saw newlyweds Tommy and Elizabeth forget about their significant others back in the old world, much to the err of a brutal Major.
Kind of like Lost but without the silly magic tricks and random polar bears, the return trip to a rather brutal New South Wales saw the audience plummet to 2.4 million viewers, resulting in a week on week fall of 1 million.
Scenes of Russell Tovey’s James Freeman battling it out with Game of Thrones‘ The Hound for scraps of food resulted in a 12% share.
At the same time on BBC One, Lenny Henry visited a disturbingly dilapidated clinic in Uganda as part of the broadcaster’s Thursday night guilt trip.
Comic Relief: Operation Health (9pm) wasn’t exactly the laugh-a-minute experience you’d expect from a show hosted by a comedian which had the word ‘comic’ in the title, but the gloomy tale drew in viewers regardless. 2.7 million tuned in for the emotional appeal, resulting in a 13% share.
Meanwhile Channel 5 was busy doing its bit for society by providing the public with Holiday Love Rats Exposed (9pm), a ‘documentary’ about silly people making silly decisions. 1.2 million tuned in to hear a handful of women share their tales of exotic romances, which was seemingly all about ulterior motives, resulting in a 6% share.
9pm also brought the eighth and final episode of Russell T Davies’ latest opus, Cucumber, to Channel 4. While the bittersweet drama about a middle-aged gay man attempting to find happiness garnered a lot of (mostly positive) coverage from the media, audiences didn’t exactly show up in droves.
Opening up with some shocking scenes, stinging dialogue and a little under 1 million viewers back in January, the audience has slowly dissipated over the past few weeks.
Last night’s finale attracted 600,000 live viewers and a 3% share, while youthful companion show Bananna (E4, 10pm) wrapped up with a paltry 206,000 viewers after an opening audience of 341,000.
Earlier at 8pm, it was also time to say goodbye to the third series of The Great British Sewing Bee (BBC Two) which opened with 2.3 million viewers and soared all the way up to an average audience of a little over 3 million last night.
ITV’s evening was handed over to Mark Pougatch, a man who’s made a career out of not being Adrian Chiles, for a night of UEFA Europa League Live (7:45pm). The thrilling match between Everton and Dynamo Kiev secured 2.8 million viewers and a 13% share.
Earlier on soap fans were in for a treat with double editions of their favourite dramas helping to fill up two solid hours of their lives.
First up was Emmerdale at 7pm, with 60 minutes of rural bed-hopping bringing in 5.2 million viewers and a 28% share to ITV.
Afterwards on BBC One, EastEnders (8pm) made a comeback just one day after suffering a notable drop in viewers. 6.3 million and a 28% share – Thursday’s biggest audience – tuned in for a double-helping of Walford happiness, as Kat’s life continued to be rubbish and Shabnam continued to be unlikeable and completely irrational.
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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