The A Word continues to triumph
Last night saw dysfunctional northern family drama The A Word (BBC One, 9pm) once again secure the biggest audience in its time slot, and while its weekly following isn’t significant it has continually proved rigid enough to overthrow the lacklustre competition.
Yesterday brought the penultimate episode of the six part series, which saw the extended Scott/Hughes family face some more of life’s funny little obstacles as five year old Joe’s behaviour got a little out of hand.
4.7 million viewers watched the first episode as the family dealt with the revelation of Joe’s autism, falling to a more standard 3.9 million viewers for the second episode.
The audience remained mostly unchanged over the following two weeks as the unaffected drama saw the characters struggle with all the realistic challenges involved.
Tuesday night brought another bout of issues as Joe’s actions threatened to break his parents, as his beloved minder faced deportation, resulting in a 20% share and the biggest 9pm audience.
BBC Two was also beating its competitors with the second part of worthwhile and extremely timely doc Europe: Them or Us (9pm).
Featuring plenty of historical footage of the Iron Lady casually making her EU contemporaries wish they hadn’t got out of bed that day, the show aimed to weigh up the history and possible future of the tempestuous union.
1.7 million viewers tuned in to find out how exactly we got to where we are today, with a 9% share watching the road of good intentions being paved.
Over on ITV, Drive (9pm) was still a thing that continued to exist, with the latest episode of totally not Top Gear seeing the remaining celebrities tasked with driving 4x4s, enthralling its audience of 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share in the process.
Over on Channel 4, there were plenty more bellows of pain and bundles of joy on offer in One Born Every Minute (9pm) which secured 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
[advert position=”left”]Channel 5 had a new reality show at 9pm, one of those bad behaviour shows with a seriously exceptional twist. Tribal Teens… Here Comes Trouble saw various wrong ‘uns being carted off to all corners of the globe for a schooling in tough love, resulting in 522,000 viewers and a 3% share.
BBC channels also did well in the 8pm slot, with Holby City securing 4 million viewers and a 20% share for BBC One, while the nasty alternative universe pressure of Bake Off: Crème de la Crème brought in 3.1 million viewers and a 16% share.
On ITV, the ever excited Steve Backshall launched a new series of exotic animal bothering in Fierce (8pm). The first of six episodes saw Steve entice a Komodo dragon with his slap of meat, resulting in 1.9 million viewers and a 10% share.
On Channel 4 there was some offspring exploitation fun to be had on The Tiny Tots Talent Agency (8pm), the type of show designed to overwhelm right minded people with its barrage of bad parenting and lack of long-term thinking.
913,000 viewers joined in to see mummy and daddy’s little workhorses smile for their lives, resulting in a 5% share.
On Channel 5, there was another chance to catch up with The Yorkshire Vet (8pm), which was very like Channel 4’s The Supervet but just a little less super and tad more Channel 5. 1.2 million viewers tuned in to catch an injured swan and a working police dog get their five minutes of fame, resulting in a 6% share.
At 7pm on ITV, Emmerdale took the day’s second place with the latest episode of rural backstabbing netting 5.3 million viewers and a 31% share.
Phil Mitchell’s first sober day in quite some time secured Tuesday’s top spot for EastEnders at 7:30pm on BBC One, with the soap’s appropriate comedown bringing in 6.3 million viewers and a 34% 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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