Hypnodog helps BGT score this year’s biggest audience so far
This weekend saw Britain’s Got Talent (8pm), ITV’s hugely successful Saturday night serving of frothy family fun, secure its biggest audience so far this series.
Three weeks in to the ninth series, Simon Cowell and his crew of astute talent-spotters managed to win the battle against their weekend rivals, with a little bit of help from a hula-hooping mother, a man dressed up as a nun sitting on top of a remote controlled piano and, of course, a hypnodog.
After opening up with 9.6 million viewers, before falling ever so slightly to 9.5 million for the second week, Saturday’s 75 minute slice of the deranged, barrel-scraping and entertaining variety show pulled in an impressive audience of 10 million viewers and a 46% share.
Apart from airing the biggest show of the year so far, Saturday’s line-up offered very little else in the blockbuster entertainment stakes.
Earlier on ITV, the not-quite-as-bananas-as-Total Wipeout fun of Ninja Warrior UK (7pm) saw another gaggle of super-fit, ultra-confident winners try their hand at the obstacle course for the nation’s entertainment.
4.5 million viewers tuned in to see Ben Shephard and former S Club 8 member Rochelle Humes attempt to milk every drop of excitement from the mundane outcomes, resulting in a 25% share.
Going up against ITV’s sure-fire talent hit was BBC Two docu-drama Gallipoli: When Murdoch Went to War at 9pm.
Telling the tale of that time in 1915 when Rupert’s daddy Keith shook up the establishment by criticising the way Australian and British troops were engaging in the First World War, the experience didn’t exactly scream ‘Saturday night’ and only managed to attract 702,000 viewers and a 3% share.
Over on BBC One, 4.3 million viewers and a 22% share tuned in at 9:20pm to see the latest round of accidents and drama in Casualty.
BBC One was back on top of its game the following day, with a selection of traditional Sunday favourites and dramatic series finales enticing viewers in.
Songs of Praise got the end-of-week-sedative ball slowly rolling at 5pm, with 1.7 million viewers and a 12% share tuning in to see Aled Jones continue his search for School Choir of the Year.
A bit later at 7pm, the unmitigated anarchy of Countryfile (BBC One) saw Tom Heap recklessly searching for a cure to hayfever, which brought in Sunday’s biggest audience (6.4 million viewers) and a 35% share.
Nipping at the rural magazine show’s heels was Antiques Roadshow (BBC One) at 8pm, and, while Fiona Bruce’s exciting trip to Lowther Castle proved very British and popular, it wasn’t enough to top Countryfile.
5.8 million people tuned in to see Beatrix Potter’s unequalled watercolours detailing the sex life of fungi, resulting in a 26% share.
It was time for another two hours of regional detective quirk over on ITV, as no-nonsense northerner Vera (8pm) wrapped up her fifth series in her usual straight-talking manner.
4.6 million viewers tuned in to see Brenda Blethyn investigate the death of a dock worker, netting a 21% share for the channel.
Given the day’s events in Nepal, it was surprising to see Channel 4 go ahead with its late film, The Impossible, a harrowing 2012 film depicting a family’s first-hand ordeal of surviving the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
Starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor as the parents of a family physically torn apart, the well-handled and shocking story of survival took in 1.3 million viewers and a 7% share.
But it was the end of BBC One’s period drama Poldark (9pm) that got Sunday evening viewers all excited as fans soaked up those Cornish views one last time.
Eight long week ago Aidan Turner’s Ross Poldark swash-buckled his way onto the nation’s screen with 6.9 million viewers and spent the intermittent weeks romancing the kitchen wench, ruffling some establishment feathers and throwing in a spot of topless scything whenever viewers needed a short break from the impressive scenery.
While a tiny portion of the audience trickled away over the following episodes, the remake of the 1975 melodrama remained popular throughout.
Last night’s finale, which saw Ross and his missus Demelza in a bit of a dark place, took in 5.9 million viewers and a 25% share, surely enough to encourage the BBC to plunder some more of Winston Graham’s series of novels for a second series on escapist Sunday night brooding.
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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