BBC One nails Sunday with Call The Midwife finale & Poldark
Last night saw BBC One destroy the competition once again with a double helping of quality period drama, drawing viewers in with a final visit to the frenzied nursing convent at Nonnatus House, followed by a romantic romp on horseback through the unspoiled backdrop of 18th-century Cornwall.
Opening up with 8.3 million viewers in January, the fourth series of Call the Midwife (8pm) continued to keep viewers invested throughout its eight week run, largely thanks to the show’s ability to string together intriguing problem-pregnancy-of-the-week stories alongside the social awakening of the hard-working women.
Last night saw the (now) sixties-set East End overpopulation drama welcome back Miranda Hart’s Chummy back into the mix, while Nurses Patsy and Delia continued to hide their love away, resulting in the expected and devastating consequences.
Not only did the fertile drama manage to outdo this series’ opening audience, it also managed to beat last years’ finale (8.2 million viewers), indicating there is plenty of life in the format yet.
Yesterday, an audience of 8.7 million viewers watched as a ‘revolutionary’ cure for morning sickness called thalidomide entered the fray, resulting in a 33% share and the weekend’s biggest audience.
Just to add some kind of balance to the heartbreak, poverty and tragedy befalling the staff and clients of Nonnatus House, there was some more historical heartbreak at 9pm. But at least Poldark took off his top, helping worn-out TV viewers to close a week of telly with some excitement.
The deluge of television TV period drama continued on BBC One as Winston Graham’s novel received a second adaptation from the BBC, following on from 1975’s successful outing.
Starring Aidan Turner – the ‘hot’ dwarf and tween favourite from The Hobbit trilogy – as the titular hero returning to his picturesque Cornish life after fighting in the American War of Independence, only to find out things all went a bit Pete Tong in his absence.
The biggest 9pm audience tuned in to find out his number one gal was shacked up with his cousin, his dad dead and his abundance of tin mines on the brink (hate when that happens), resulting in a 29% share.
An audience of 6.9 million viewers watched as Poldark decided to shack up with the kitchen wench instead, making enemies of locals and setting up plenty of drama for the following eight weeks.
At the same time on what is slowly morphing into Dave, BBC Two provided another evening of lame ‘Dad’ TV with Top Gear (8pm), the middle-aged answer to Blue Peter, securing the channel’s biggest hit of the day.
5.1 million viewers tuned in to see James, Richard and Jeremy, the unholy trinity of banter, make things worse by hooking up with the American presenter of Top Gear, resulting in a 19% share.
The fun continued at 9pm on BBC Two with Let’s Play Darts for Comic Relief netting 2.5 million viewers and an 11% share.
ITV’s prime time tactic was to offer up a meaningless game show and a historical drama, but to a lesser effect. The cesspool of sadness that was All Star Family Fortunes (8pm) saw singers who used to perform for a living but bow appear on game shows with Vernon Kay help net 3 million viewers and an 11% share.
Afterwards, the third series of Mr Selfridge continued at 9pm with a traffic accident to rival Call the Midwife‘s shocking scene. 3.2 million viewers watched as a former shop girl met her end thanks to another period motor crash, resulting in a 14% share for the retail escapism.
Over on Channel 4, Crufts 2015 (7pm) continued to garner attention on Twitter for all the wrong reasons, helping it top yesterday’s TV chart.
Of course, there was also a slight bump in coverage as a result of an alleged poisoning plot that saw an Irish Red Setter meet his maker, resulting in 1.6 million viewers and a 7% share.
Afterwards, Indian Summers (9pm) continued to swelter with the fourth episode losing yet more viewers. Down from the opening episode’s audience of 2.5 million viewers, only 1 million tuned in last night to see the bright young things lock lips with the locals, resulting in a 4% share.
Channel 5’s evening was handed over to the successful cinematic reboot of cheesy 80s teen drama 21 Jump Street, netting an average audience of 1.1 million and a 6% 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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