BBC One’s ‘upmarket’ chicken shop doc brings in 3.3m at 9pm
Wednesday night saw BBC One take a slice of Channel 4’s greased up chicken shop action by sprucing up the format and pointing their cameras at a slightly more successful franchise, although The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop (9pm) featured significantly less aggressive drunks and amorous drag queens.
Narrated by everyday normal bloke Ralf Little, the first of three episodes played like a propaganda piece for giant multinational fast-food chain KFC as the amiable staff dished out oily chicken by the bucket load.
Airing at the exact same time as a repeat of The Fried Chicken Shop was broadcast to an unknown amount of viewers on London Live, the latest kooky prime time workplace documentary played it safe by also showing a community in Manchester outraged by the opening of a new branch.
In total, 3.3 million viewers spent their Wednesday evening imagining the smell of the the Colonel’s secret spices, netting a 16% share.
The enticing sight of chickens cooped up in their cages wasn’t enough to overthrow ITV’s glib 9pm offering though, as happy-go-lucky law officer DCI Banks cracked open a brand new case.
The third episode of the fourth series dealt with the suspicious death of a lawyer, with the Leeds-set show seeing a slight week on week rise in popularity. After opening up with 5.5 million two weeks back, viewers plummeted last week to 3.7 million.
Last night’s latest slice of grey-hued fun secured 4 million viewers and a 19% share, the biggest audience in the 9pm slot.
Meanwhile Channel 4 was busy churning real life personal tragedies into gripping entertainment for the masses as series eight of 24 Hours in A&E (9pm) continued. 1.6 million viewers tuned in to watch as a 63 year old man was rushed through the resus doors, netting a 7% share and the channel’s biggest audience of the day.
Over on Channel 5, My Violent Child continued because what better way to calm down aggressive brats than by giving them a national platform. 861,000 viewers and a 4% share tuned in for the stressful hour of telly.
A little earlier on BBC Two, science bros Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain were back for another three part series of Stargazing Live at 8pm. 1.9 million viewers and a 9% share watched as Cox joined astronaut Buzz Aldrin in a spot of space training, with Stargazing Live: Back to Earth securing 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share straight afterwards at 9:30pm.
Much earlier in the day, it was time for some bad news as George Osbourne and his briefcase of sadness as the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced The Budget 2015 (11:30am).
Unsurprisingly, the anger-inducing four hour spectacle topped the TV Twitter chart despite only attracting 491,000 souls and an 8% share on BBC Two.
Earlier in the day ITV’s soaps secured the day’s top two spots with Emmerdale (7pm) netting 5.9 million viewers and a 31% share, while Coronation Street captured the attention of 6.8 million viewers and a 33% share at 7:30pm.
Once again EastEnders was expelled to its dreaded 8:30pm Wednesday slot, with last night’s offering pulling in even less than the same slot last week, which secured a lowly 5.4 million viewers.
Just one day previous the London soap brought in Tuesday’s biggest audience with 6.7 million at 7:30pm, but witnessed a dramatic drop in yesterday’s later slot.
In total just 4.9 million tuned in to see the episode, which was postponed from Tuesday, with Stan Carter’s latest glimpse at mortality securing a 23% 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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