I’m a Celeb absence sees McDonald net 9pm glory for ITV
Normality resumed on the nation’s TVs last night, with the post-I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! landscape once again allowing the soaps to contend for ratings glory and leaving the schedule with much more divergent audiences.
Instead of reality stars taking breaks from their jobs in order to sit around in front on TV cameras in a fake jungle, Monday night saw ITV treat viewers to the return of an old favourite, once again dragging a national treasure, Trevor McDonald, out of his latest attention-seeking retirement plans.
After confronting death row inmates and the mafia, the veteran broadcaster was chatting to more crooks, general dodgy types and a celebrated rapist in Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald (9pm).
While not exactly bringing the nation together in perfect harmony, the first of three episodes did manage to secure the 9pm slot for the commercial broadcaster, resulting in 3.7 million viewers and an 18% share.
Over on BBC One, investigative journalist Andrew Jennings was busy sniffing out the trail of billions of sweaty sock-tainted pounds in FIFA, Sepp Blatter and Me (8:30pm).
Somehow impressively making the entire scandal about him, the one-off exposé came hot on the heels of Channel 5’s recent ground-breaking investigation Sepp Blatter Exposed: The Fall of FIFA but managed to do much better with 2.1 million viewers and a 10% share.
The rest of BBC One’s prime time hour was taken up with yet another repeat of Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special (9:30pm), whose musty stale smell didn’t do anything to scare off its audience of 2.5 million viewers and a 12% share.
On BBC Two, kinky clandestine murder drama London Spy (9pm) came to an end after five episodes.
The tale of a man (Ben Whishaw) consumed with the cruel death of his MI6 partner and the capital’s murky sexual underworld opened up with 2.5 million viewers; however, the audience soon became weary, possibly put off by the graphic content and many narrative twists.
Last night’s finale netted 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share.
For a dose of alarming reality, Channel 4 offered up Hunting the Paedophiles: Inside the National Crime Agency (9pm), an all-access look at the hard work being put into putting predators behind bars.
997,000 viewers tuned in to see the as the task force traced a group of male perpetrators to sunny Bahrain, resulting in a 5% share.
Channel 5’s On Benefits: Benefits Beauty Queens (9pm) did almost as well, netting 845,000 viewers and a 4% share with its combination of pity and subtle sneering.
On BBC Three, radio-DJ-turned-Stacey-Dooley, Reggie Yates, launched a new series of hard-hitting youth-orientated exposés at 9pm. First up was Reggie Yates’ Extreme UK: Gay and Under Attack which brought in 516,000 and a 3% share for the terminally ill channel.
Earlier on BBC Two, University Challenge bagged 2.9 million at 8pm while Simply Nigella (8:30pm) wrapped up its winning brand of glad-eye culinary flirtation with 2.4 million viewers and an 11% share.
[advert position=”left”]A bevy for frugal programming kicked off at 8pm with The Martin Lewis Money Show (ITV, 8pm) securing 3.3 million viewers, while Channel 4’s Dispatches: Low Pay Britain (8pm) brought in 574,000 viewers, followed by The Shopper’s Guide to Saving Money (8:30pm) which was watched by an audience of 937,000.
At 7pm on ITV, Emmerdale launched an unforgiving onslaught of soap, as is tradition. 5.9 million viewers and a 30% share tuned in to see rural folk be awful to each other.
Kathy Beale was keeping busy in EastEnders at 8pm as 6.4 million viewers watched as she discovered Jane in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs before getting into a fight with Shazza, resulting in a 29% share.
As if I’m a Celeb… never happened, a double helping of Coronation Street (ITV) swooped in and stole the top two spots, with the 7:30pm showing bringing in 7 million viewers and a 34% share followed by 6.5 million and a 30% share at 8:30pm.
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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