Emmerdale’s frothy funeral beats EastEnders’ despair in soap clash
Tuesday evening’s two soap options saw the episodic dramas deal with two very different deaths in equally diverse manners as Emmerdale‘s slightly more comedic spin on dealing with grief secured the top spot for ITV.
On BBC One on 7:30pm, EastEnders dealt with the emotional fallout of Monday’s harrowing turn of events, as Shabnam and Kush tried to come to terms with the loss of their unborn child.
Because of the direct soap clash, or perhaps because of the weight of the subject matter, or simply the wide availability of BBC’s catch-up service, yesterday’s admirably handled and impressively acted slice of distressing Walford life scored much lower than usual.
In total, just 4.6 million viewers tuned in to see how the couple would cope, down from Monday’s devastating episode which secured 6.2 million viewers. A 22% share meant that EastEnders only ranked as Tuesday’s sixth most popular show.
While EastEnders had the thankless task of dealing with the upsetting stillbirth storyline, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) went in the completely opposite direction for the funeral of Val Pollard, with the soap stretching out the drama for a whole hour.
After joining the soap eleven years previously, Val recently met her maker as part of ITV’s highly publicised ‘Summer Fate’ storyline cast cull which involved an explosion and a mirror maze. It would seem helicopters and soap weddings really don’t mix.
Last night’s 60 minutes of mourning saw a troupe of male strippers descend upon the church, while a Meatloaf impersonator belted Bat Out of Hell in all its ludicrous glory. ITV’s light-hearted approach is what it took to net Tuesday’s top spot, netting an audience of 5.6 million viewers and a 29% share.
Later on, the latest reheated cold case on New Tricks secured the 9pm slot for BBC One as the final ever series reached the halfway point.
Perhaps pandering to its target audience a little too blatantly, yesterday’s adventure in dusty sleuthing saw the team attempt to crack the death of a sports star while delving into the murky waters of professional cricket.
5.4 million viewers tuned in to see the relatively new line-up do their thing, resulting in a solid 26% share.
Elsewhere, India: Nature’s Wonderland (9pm) brought in 2 million viewers to BBC Two while ITV’s mucky prime time offering Cash in Hand! Payday Loans was watched by 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share.
Over on Channel 4 was the second episode of Educating Cardiff (9pm) which saw the PE teacher attempt to sort out two disruptive students, resulting in a BB gun being shot in class, 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
[advert position=”left”]On Channel 5, Celebrity Big Brother Live: A Royal Arrival saw housemate Janice Dickinson suffer a seizure after being stung by a bee, with the broadcaster surviving a barrage of criticism on Twitter. On the plus side this helped the show top the TV Twitter chart, along with winning an audience of 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
Earlier, Holby City (8pm) netted 4.7 million viewers on BBC One while The Hairy Bikers’ Northern Exposure (8pm) brought 2.4 million to BBC Two. ITV’s Dinosaur Britain was watched by 1.6 million viewers while Channel 4’s Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning bagged 1.4 million.
On Channel 5 I Want That Wedding pulled in 544,000 and a 3% share while the marital time slot rival over on BBC Three didn’t do quiet as well.
The non-BBC One version of channel-swapped mega success story Don’t Tell the Bride didn’t fare quiet so well on its original channel, with just 493,000 viewers and a 3% share tuning in.
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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