Final ever New Tricks ends with 4.5m and nets 9pm slot for BBC One
After 12 series and an ever-changing cast, Tuesday night finally brought an end to the crime show which unashamedly appeased the appetites of an older demographic as New Tricks (9pm) finally bowed out for good.
BBC One’s surprise smash hit kicked off in March 2003 and it wasn’t long before the tale of retired detectives investigating cold cases while trying to navigate the crazy modern world (youths and technology being their biggest foe) was regularly pulling in over 9 million viewers.
Although the show hardly bothered anyone on the BAFTA judging committee, its audience soon became a loyal following mainly due to the refreshingly dusty cast and their specific chemistry.
After 10 series, some behind-the-scenes squabbles with the writers saw the stars edging towards the exit, with James Bolan leaving in 2009, followed soon after by Alun Armstrong and Amanda Redman, while Dennis Waterman (he sings the theme toon) managed to hang around until the second episode of the current run.
Naturally all these changes affected the show’s ratings with Tamzin Outhwaite, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Denis Lawson and Larry Lamb being dealt the thankless task of keeping the still relatively successful machine ticking along.
Just 5.3 million viewers tuned in eight weeks ago to see the final batch of elderly sleuthing, jumping to 5.7 million the following week for Waterman’s last appearance and seeing the audience fall into the 4 million bracket in the following weeks.
Last night saw an audience of 4.5 million viewers show up to say goodbye to the newest group of old dogs. While this may not be the grand send off the show deserved, a 22% audience share meant that the final ever New Tricks secured the 9pm slot for BBC One.
At the same time, ITV was attempting to tap into the same audience with the new series of Morse spin-off Lewis (9pm).
The ninth run of episodes saw the ageing Oxford-based detective deal with some contemporary confusion as he was thrown into the world of modern art when a taxidermist is found murdered.
An audience of 3.5 million viewers welcomed back DI Lewis and his young and hip protégée DI Hathaway, resulting in a 17% share.
[advert position=”left”]Over on BBC Two, ageless choirmaster Gareth Malone was back figuratively stripping off his hopefuls in the latest The Naked Choir with Gareth Malone (9pm). 1.6 million viewers tuned in for the easy to follow format as the competition reached the halfway point, resulting in an 8% share.
On Channel 4, the penultimate episode of Educating Cardiff (9pm) focused on more troubled and violent teens, helping out the situation by making the youngsters prime time stars. 1.2 million viewers tuned in for the latest helping of raging hormones and the confidence of youth, netting a 6% share.
For the second week in a row Channel 5 offered up something very different, in the concluding part of the sobering and thoughtful Body Donors (9pm).
After meeting the exceedingly brave Diana and Mike in last week’s episode, last night saw the students get to work on their corpses in the shockingly honest look at the whole process, with 796,000 million viewers (a 4% share) enduring the hard to watch show.
At 8pm, Holby City was watched by 4.2 million viewers and a 21% share on BBC One, while The Hairy Bikers’ Northern Exposure brought in 2.3 million viewers and a 12% share to BBC Two.
On ITV, competitive sports science show Eternal Glory kicked off with 2 million viewers, with the stripped-back Krypton Factor netting a 10% share.
But it was BBC Three that generated the highest amount of TV-related tweets last night with We Want Our Country Back (9pm), a documentary following the Britain First party as it attempted to gain some credibility in British politics.
889,000 viewers tuned into see the tactics used on social medial, leading to a 4% share and over 21,000 tweets.
Earlier on in the savage arena of the soap wars, Emmerdale‘s (ITV, 7pm) recent dirty tactics seemed to be doing the trick with an hour long episode once again clashing and defeating BBC One’s EastEnders (7:30pm).
The day’s biggest audience tuned in to see the latest developments from the Yorkshire Dales, resulting in 5.6 million viewers and a 28% share.
On BBC One, Ian Beale finally decided to do the right thing and scratch out his own miserable existence once and for all and, really, who could blame him?
4.6 million viewers watched as the first son of Walford was finally reunited with a very alive Kathy Beale, leading to a long gestating pay off and a 22% 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.
To get all the latest Mediatel Newsline updates follow us on Twitter.