Wednesday night saw the prime time television line-up peak on ITV at 8pm as the broadcaster rolled out a fresh new series of humorous new homicides in Midsomer Murders.

Monday night brought another clash between ITV’s ever-weakening and heavily-promoted mystery drama Broadchurch and BBC One’s long-running but somehow-still-thrilling forensic drama Silent Witness at 9pm.

Sunday evening saw the top broadcasters bring out their heavy-hitting period dramas as the return of ITV’s Mr Selfridge (9pm) had to contend with those dotty birthing professionals on BBC One’s Call the Midwife (8pm).

16 years after Russell T Davies first introduced an unprepared national audience to Manchester’s Canal Street on Queer as Folk, the writer/producer was back to his old stomping ground with Cucumber (Channel 4, 9pm).

The festive period saw a drop for most news outlets, with just four online news platforms reporting an increase in traffic in December – with Trinity Mirror hit hardest.

Wednesday night saw the biggest stars of British television come out in force in a self-congratulatory orgy of back-patting that was The National Television Awards – Live!

Even though Tuesday evening’s TV line-up brought a huge variety of glossy and gripping content, an ill-advised soap clash between ITV and the BBC saw both channels ultimately lose out.

The death of the legend that was Deirdre Barlow saw the soap generating plenty of activity on Twitter, with the second episode seeing a 295% increase on the first.

Sunday evening brought a triumphant return for rose-tinted sentimental birthing drama Call the Midwife (BBC One, 9pm) as those plucky nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House were back with gutsy post-war aplomb.

BBC One secured the 9pm slot last night with the latest instalment of laid-back murder drama Death in Paradise (9pm).