BBC One leads Thursday with EastEnders anniversary tease
Despite a little contained disruption from ITV, BBC One led Thursday night’s viewing with a sturdy and dependable line-up of a light and sunny murder drama, an age-old soap and one of those patronising and mind-numbing consumer shows fronted by Gregg Wallace.
The latest drama from Albert Square walked away with yesterday’s biggest audience as the cast of sorry characters prepared themselves for next week’s 30th anniversary ‘week of revelations’.
Add to that the impending threat of a week of live scenes (especially with the haphazard and properly uncomfortable 25th anniversary so fresh in everyone’s minds), and the whole build up is continuing to fuel EastEnders (7:30pm) current momentum.
Yesterday saw Ian Beale’s sorry life limp on as he prepared his family for his upcoming 30th wedding ceremony, this time to a woman that may or may not have killed his daughter. An audience of 7.1 million viewers tuned in to be teased about the identity of Lucy Beale’s killer yet again, securing a 34% share and the day’s top spot.
Afterwards was the third and final episode of Eat Well for Less? (BBC One, 8pm), which saw MasterChef ‘personality’ Gregg Wallace once again team up with a greengrocer to point out the bleeding obvious to clueless families struggling with the concept of nutrition.
A whopping 4.7 million viewers tuned in for the condescending carry-on, resulting in a 21% share.
At 9pm, the latest flesh-sponsored instalment of Death in Paradise (BBC One) won its time slot, as Kris Marshall’s clumsy detective was forced to spend a lot of time deep in the sweaty underworld of a highly competitive inter-island ladies volleyball championship.
6.7 million viewers tuned in for the well-realised gripping tale of murder scenes of women in bikinis jumping about, resulting in a dominant 30% share.
Meanwhile, Channel 5’s evening entertainment was sponsored by themes of paranoia and reactionary panic kicking off with a repeat of Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole at 8pm. God forbid that anyone missed the insightful gem of a show when it originally aired all the way back on Monday, last night brought a further 652,000 to the special brew-swilling streets of Essex, translating to a 3% share.
Afterwards, the first episode of Britain’s Biggest Primary School (Channel 5, 9pm) – a show focusing on Gascoigne Primary School in East London – was at pains to let the audience know that 90% of children didn’t have English as a first language, with producers clearly hoping to milk some outrage.
773,000 tuned in for the more diverse version of Educating Yorkshire, netting a 4% share for the channel.
Things were slightly more civilised and a lot more twee over on BBC Two, as the broadcaster concerned itself with the fortunes of well-spoken and very proper and polite amateur stitching fanatics as the third series of The Great British Sewing Bee continued at 8pm with 2.5 million viewers and an 11% share.
Afterwards at 9pm, Modern Times (BBC Two), the documentary series looking a contemporary Britain, returned with 24 Hour Parcel People, a film which documented a large courier company’s decent into administration. Over 1 million viewers tuned in for the absorbing tale, netting a 5% share.
Fans of seeing superfluous panel show mainstay Rufus Hound naked and weeping were in for a right old treat over on Channel 4, with the fourth episode of Russell T Davis’ Cucumber (9pm). An audience of 581,000 tuned in to see Henry navigate through his messy life, netting a 3% share.
ITV provided the only two non-BBC One entries in the top ten with a double serving of Emmerdale. 7pm saw Belle Dingle go AWOL without her medication, with the drama bringing in 6.3 million viewers and a 33% share.
The troubled teenager’s suicide attempt at 8pm saw the audience drop to a little over 6 million at 8pm.
At 8:30pm, recurrent hazy 90s nightmare Birds of a Feather (ITV) was watched by 4 million viewers, while the second and concluding episode of Car Crash Britain (ITV) brought in 3 million viewers and a 14% share at 9pm.
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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