BBC One secures 4.7m with northern drama Ordinary Lies
Tuesday night brought the launch of a new six-part ensemble drama on BBC One, with Ordinary Lies (9pm) promising to be a hard-hitting tale dealing with the self-made trials and tribulations of those put-upon working class Northern types.
Set in a ‘salt of the earth’ car showroom in Cheshire, each week the show focused on an ‘ordinary’ employee whose little white lie inevitably caused an avalanche of histrionics. The first episode focused on supposed man of the people, Jason Manford, as a drinker with some serious punctuality issues and a penchant for telling porky pies.
The biggest 9pm audience tuned in to BBC One to see Manford’s Marty tell his boss Mike (played by Max Beesley, star of cut-and-paste northern dramas and some choice Hollywood roles) that his wife had died in order to save his job.
The first episode of the drama about everyday norms that end up making one bad decision with monumental fallouts netted at 22% share, with 4.7 million viewers tuning in to see the surprisingly familiar cast.
The show also managed to be the third most tweeted about programme of the day, with some viewers no doubt enraged about Northerners being depicted as lazy, untrustworthy fabricators of untruths.
Meanwhile, it was the Irish who were being smeared over on Channel 5 in the second exciting instalment of The Benefits Estate (9pm), taking the broadcaster’s welfare-focused programming all the way to the exotic surroundings of North Dublin.
Originally broadcast as the less reactionary The Estate on Ireland’s TV3, the ob doc secured 1 million viewers last week, with the concluding second episode netting just 869,000 viewers and a 4% share.
There was more real life excitement on Channel 4 as more parents decided to share their most precious moments with the nation on the latest One Born Every Minute (9pm). The usual cocktail of ear-piercing screams, disinfecting clean-ups and sticky newborns pulled in 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
Over on BBC Two, comedian David Mitchell lent his dulcet tones to Horizon in a gallant attempt to bring some humour to the overwhelming world of educational scientific programming.
1 million viewers and a 5% share watched Dancing in the Dark – The End of Physics? at 9pm, with the show documenting how scientists are basically making up the rules as they go along, with each new discovery demanding a rethink of theories.
Earlier at 8pm, more conflicted medical professionals struggled with careers and rubbish personal lives in the latest Holby City. 4.5 million viewers tuned in to see roguish Nurse Jonny deal with some pre-watershed violence while locked up in prison, resulting in a 21% share.
On ITV, it was time for Monaco to clash with Arsenal at the Stade Louis II arena in UEFA Champions League Live from 7:30pm. An average audience of 4.2 million viewers tuned in to see the away team score a 2-0 victory, resulting in an average 20% share.
As usual, the game peaked in the closing moments with 5.4 million viewers watched during the 15 minute window at 9:15pm.
But despite all the solid drama, documentaries and sport on offer, it was ITV and BBC One’s soap offering that took Tuesday’s top spots. At 7pm on Emmerdale, poor old Andy Sugden was still mourning the loss of his latest wife Katie, with 5.7 million viewers and a 30% share tuning in for some fun teatime bereavement.
Over on BBC One, it was finally time for bad grandpa Stan Carter to quit all his talk of fleeting mortality and get on with dying on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm).
The day’s biggest audience watched as Stan attempted to round up his friends and family for one last night out at Romford greyhound track, but this being EastEnders, the writers decided to paralyse him instead.
6.7 million viewers caught up with the Carter’s latest woes, resulting in a 32% share for BBC One.
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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