ITV’s Top Gear tribute act Drive crashes with 1.9m
Last night, commercial broadcaster ITV attempted to squeeze presenter Veron Kay and an overstuffed hoard of vaguely familiar TV personalities into a Top Gear-shaped Mini, with the launch of automobile family fetish show, Drive (9pm).
The loose concept, mainly involving random celebs driving random cars, brought in just 1.9 million viewers while appearances from contracted ITV employees like Louis Walsh, helped bring in a 9% share.
Meanwhile, BBC One’s dysfunctional family drama The A Word (9pm) regain some momentum after the second episode suffered a noticeable drop in viewers, as last night’s sometimes painful quality time with the Hughes family focused on struggling mum Alison (Morven Christie).
The drama, about a multi-generational family learning that tiny tot Joe has autism (but really about each member’s truck load of hidden personal issues) opened up to 4.7 million viewers two weeks back but fell by -17% for the second outing, resulting in 3.9 million viewers.
The layered tale of parents’ muddled attempts to do the best for their offspring jumped back slightly last night, with 4.2 million viewers and a 20% share tuning in for the latest developments in Joe’s treatment, bagging BBC One the biggest 9pm show.
Elsewhere in the 9pm slot, real life drama ruled the roost.
On BBC Two, the almost unbelievable story of Barack Obama’s time in the Presidential office came to an end after four episodes.
The final chapter of Inside Obama’s White House (9pm) looked at how the second term was won, apparently spurred on by his tackling of feminist issues and bin Laden’s eventual death, and pulled in another consistent audience.
With the début instalment brining in 1.6 million, yesterday’s finale managed a similar audience with 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
On Channel 4, One Born Every Minute (9pm) brought another hour of trying times for the patients of the labour ward, bringing 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share along with them.
There were trying times of a different sort over on Channel 5 as Benefits by the Sea: Jaywick (9pm) followed some people attempting to kick the booze, with 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share spending their Tuesday night in rehab.
After so many Bake Off inspired spin-offs clogging up the chart these past few years, there was some genuine enjoyment to be had with the first official prime time companion.
Last week introduced 3.5 million viewers to the new, but similar, format with Bake Off: Crème de la Crème (BBC Two, 8pm) borrowing heavily from MasterChef: the Professionals.
Last night saw a team from the British Armed Forces go up against an all-female group of Hotel chefs to create some mind-boggling bakes, resulting in a slightly lower 3.2 million viewers and a 16% share.
The dependable drama of Holby City (9pm) brought in 4.4 million viewers and a 22% share for BBC One while the rest of the 8pm schedule was packed full of reality property fun.
ITV’s How Not to DIY secured 1.9 million viewers, Channel 4’s Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners netted 1 million viewers while Channel 5’s Britain’s Horror Homes was watched by an audience of just 659,000.
The day’s top performing shows belonged to the soaps, with Emmerdale (7pm) securing 5.3 million and a 30% share while BBC One’s own ray of sunshine EastEnders (7:30pm) resulted in 6.3 million viewers.
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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