ITV’s defiant international friendly between England and France nets 6.2m
It’s been quite some time since a Tuesday night friendly kick about brought as much attention as last night’s Live International Football (7:30pm) on ITV, with the entire endeavour acting as a symbolic gesture in defiance of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
Last night saw two other European friendlies cancelled due to security alerts, although the fans and players (and, no doubt, advertisers) were determined that last night’s gentle clash between England and France went ahead in a robust display of comradery.
Coverage of the unusually prominent live event got under way at 7:30pm from Wembley Stadium with presenter Mark Pougatch filling up half an hour before kick-off (8pm) in a more sombre that usual tone.
Tuesday’s biggest audience tuned in to see the solemn game, with 6.2 million viewers watching England show no sporting sensitivity to recent events and promptly defeat the French team with a 2-0 victory.
The two goals, scored just before and just after half time, helped secure a 28% share for the two and a half hour programme, with the game peaking at 7.8 million viewers at kick off.
Despite all the attention and general media coverage, it was actually MTV’s prestigious Geordie Shore (10pm) that prompted the most TV-related tweets of the day (the charting process doesn’t monitor sporting or news events).
Regardless of the fact that the day-glo orange-tinted show only attracted the short attention spans of 400,000 viewers (a whopping 2.5% audience share), it easily topped the TV Twitter chart with 34 tweets for every 1,000 viewers.
Over on BBC One, Holby City secured a healthy alternative audience at 8pm, with 3.6 million viewers and a 16% share tuning in to see professional types have a little cry.
9pm brought the sixth and final episode of bleak London cop drama River (BBC One) as Stellan Skarsgard’s psychologically damaged detective closed in on his (still very much present) partner’s killers.
The strikingly different police procedural opened up with 3.9 million viewers and fell by -26% by the time the second episode rolled around, proving the art house approach might have been too much for some.
Last night’s finale, which delivered all the answers patient viewers needed, secured an audience of 2.7 million, translating to a 12% share.
Over on BBC Two, 8pm brought the latest instalment of the never-ending MasterChef: The Professionals, with the latest competitive culinary showdown securing 2.6 million viewers and an 11% share.
At 9pm the innuendoes continued to come thick and fast in the third episode of the surprisingly watchable The Great Pottery Throw Down. Featuring a format identical to the Bake Off, a little under 2 million viewers tuned in to be enthralled by judge Keith Brymer Jones’ unique hairstyle, resulting in a 9% share.
Channel 4 brought viewers a one off health programme at 8pm, with Doctor in Your House (8pm) seeing Dr Xand van Tulleken adopt a proper man-beard and move in with a random family for a whole week.
1.2 million viewers watched as Dr van Tulleken and his mate Dr Ellie Cannon sift through the family’s bowel movements in order to help out with dodgy teenage skin and dad-snoring, resulting in a 5% share.
The doctors at 9pm seemed to be working a little harder for their money, with the latest instalment of traumatic and equally heart-warming 24 Hours in A&E (Channel 4) securing 1.8 million viewers and an 8% share.
Channel 5 offered up a non-welfare related documentary at 8pm, with the second Loch Lomond: A Year in the Wild bagging 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
At 9pm, a husband and wife presenting team were meeting some filthy rich people and marvelling at the wares in the fourth episode of Eamonn & Ruth: How the Other Half Lives (Channel 5).
[advert position=”left”]While viewers should be concerned about any situation in which Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes represent us, the common folk, last night’s slice of outrageous fortune netted 880,000 and a 4% share.
Earlier in the world of soap, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) didn’t clash with EastEnders but somehow managed to defeat the BBC One soap anyway.
5.8 million viewers and a 29% share tuned in for the latest dollop of plotting and betrayal from the Yorkshire Dales, with its London rival securing just 5.3 million viewers and a 25% 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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