BBC One’s disposable magazine show The Truth About…does it again with 4.1m
Last night saw BBC One’s The Truth About… series, a succession of disposable and pandering magazine shows vaguely concerning itself with general health, once again secure the prime time window for BBC One.
After uncovering the shocking reality about sugar, fat and calories (the truth is somewhat complicated, but they’re mostly bad), last night’s fourth and final episode was the third of the series to claim the 9pm slot, with last week’s fat special being severely overshadowed by privileged people arguing about nothing on ITV.
For the second time the series brought back doctor charisma himself, Chris van Tulleken, as he attempted to share The Truth About Your Medicine Cabinet (9pm), once again doing his best to stretch the basic premise over one whole hour.
Dr Chris returned with his idiot act, reminding viewers at every chance he could that, even as a doctor, he too was ‘bamboozled’ by all that medicine malarkey.
Saying that, the show did reveal how most medicines available are pretty much the exact same, with marketing departments going to some length to confuddle consumers.
An audience of 4.1 million viewers tuned in to join Dr Chris on a journey through his bowels, thanks to a very wrong camera pill, with a 20% share proving enough to win the 9pm slot for BBC One.
Meanwhile, ITV continued to plunder rejected Alan Partridge pitches as Torvill and Dean pirouetted their way to the nearest and edgiest council estate in order to make some heart-warming and cross cultural telly for the masses.
Now that the commercial broadcaster has packed Dancing on Ice into cold storage, the nation’s favourite awkward working couple, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, scrambled to pay the mortgage with Ice Rink on the Estate (9pm), a three-part show of monumental cringey proportions.
1.4 million viewers tuned in to see Jayne Torvill interact with the poors, protecting herself from the common folk by flashing her pained and dead-behind-the-eyes smile whenever things got a little bit too real. The fun and games brought in a 7% share.
On Channel 4 it was time for the women to prove their worth on The Island with Bear Grylls (9pm) after producers changed the formula after being held ransom by randomers on Twitter.
Now the second series has doubled the length of the first, last night’s second episode saw the women take charge following a bit of a wobbly beginning.
2 million viewers tuned in to see how the females dealt with snakes, simpering and tropical storms – a slight improvement on Wednesday’s sausage-fest, resulting in a 10% share.
At the same time, The Hotel Inspector was watched by 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
Over on BBC One, ye olde Australian drama Banished brought in 1.9 million (a 9% share), a far cry from the opening audience of 3.4 million for the Jimmy McGovern drama.
An hour beforehand, BBC Two was gently ushering viewers to the land of Oz with a slightly more welcoming approach on a new episode of Coast Australia (8pm). Once again prog-rock wizard archaeologist Neil Oliver got all excited about rock formations and sand, netting 1.5 million viewers and an 8% share.
Over on BBC One, MasterChef (8pm) continued, as it ever will, with 4.5 million viewers and a 23% share returning for the familiar and uninventive serving.
A double Emmerdale (ITV) bagged yesterday’s second and third spot, with 5.4 million and 4.8 million viewers tuning in at 7pm and 8pm, respectively.
But it was BBC One’s long running glub-fest EastEnders (7:30pm) that took the top spot, with scenes of Stan Carter’s bedside marriage to Cora being thwarted due to his health, depressing an audience of 6.3 million viewers and a 35% 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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