The Apprentice targets children and bags 5.6m for BBC One
Wednesday night saw Lord Sugar’s band of super-enthused vendors of tat secure the 9pm slot for the fourth consecutive week as the marketing masterminds tackled the daunting domain of children’s literature.
Meeting in a library (one of those rare occasions on The Apprentice were the link between location and task was clear), The Right Honourable Sugar tasked the 14 remaining candidates with writing and designing a children’s storybook and accompanying CD.
At least the hopefuls were finally on the right level for once, although not even the wee ones were safe from the PR drivel.
Last night’s look into the cringy world of blind leadership and insipid buzzwords performed to its usual standards, attracting a significantly higher audience than its 9pm rivals.
5.6 million viewers tuned in to see yet another awful sales pitch, which hit hide-behind-the-sofa levels of uncomfortable, resulting in a 26% share and a clear win for BBC One.
Competing with Lord Alan of Sugar’s deadly finger of finality was Joanna Lumley and her lovely charms, teaming up with ITV to make another one of those seemingly random travelogues to join the ranks of classics such as Joanna Lumley’s Nile, Joanna Lumley’s Ark, Joanna Lumley’s Greek Odyssey and, of course, who could forget Joanna Lumley Meets will.i.am?
Last night saw the activist, model, actor and professional lush travel all the way to Tupelo to gush over all things connected to the King of Rock and Roll in Joanna Lumley – Elvis and Me (ITV, 9pm).
An audience of 3 million viewers tuned in to see Joanna meet Priscilla in Graceland, with her energetic giddiness helping bring in a 14% share to the commercial broadcaster.
At the same time BBC Two kicked off a new four part series attempting to enlighten viewers on the great British export – entertainment.
The first episode of Dominic Sandbrook: Let Us Entertain You (9pm) documented the history of British popular culture conquering the world, resulting in 812,000 viewers and a 4% share.
Over on Channel 4, Kevin McCloud fell in with the Riba House of the Year Award 2015 crowd in a new series showing off the shortlisted buildings.
The first instalment of Grand Designs: House of the Year (9pm) saw Kevin showcasing inspired rural buildings and netted an audience of 1.7 million viewers and an 8% share.
On the flip side were the unfortunate subjects of Channel 5’s Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away (9pm), with 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share tuning in to see burley men take things away from underprivileged people.
[advert position=”left”]Earlier at 8pm, the second episode of Brighton-set cop show Cuffs (BBC One) suffered a -19% drop in popularity. 3.4 million viewers caught up with the messy personal lives of the harried law enforcers, resulting in a 16% share.
On BBC Two, Autumnwatch 2015 (8pm) fell from Tuesday night’s 2.4 million viewers to 2.1 million for the second instalment of hanging out in a darkened wood, resulting in a 10% share.
Over on ITV, All Star Mr & Mrs (8pm) offered plenty of opportunities for scripted banter, with 3.5 million viewers tuning in to see vaguely familiar couples faux-squabble, resulting in a 17% share.
At 7pm Emmerdale secured the day’s second biggest audience for ITV, with 5.9 million viewers and a 31% share tuning in for some countryside fun.
But it was ITV’s other soap that secured the day’s number one spot with the cobble-based drama of Coronation Street (7:30pm) securing 6.5 million viewers and a 32% 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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