BBC One wins Sunday with a mixture of Midwives & Musketeers
Friday night saw the Silent Witness (BBC One, 9pm) team go head to head with Piers Morgan, with one show labouring around in the dirt for some plot development (also known as clues) while the other slipped into overshare territory where personal secrets were dumped upon the viewing nation.
Sitting in the seat of sadness for the latest episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (ITV, 9pm) was Rovers Return mainstay Beverley Callard, who bravely went about spilling every delicate detail of her mental well-being.
Just under 3 million viewers tuned in to hear all about Beverley’s sordid romantic past, in the frank and blunt manner that Uncle Piers’ big friendly face can bring out of people. The latest candid confessional, designed to cleanse the celebrity soul (and up their profile a wee bit in the process), netted a 13% audience share.
Unfortunately for Piers, viewers preferred to spend their Friday night in the company of the fun-time forensic sleuths over on BBC One, as Dr Nikki and the rest of the Silent Witness clan only had one hour to wrap up the latest two-part case.
5.2 million viewers joined the search for a missing foetus (yep), winning the 9pm slot and a 22% share.
Over on Channel 4, Jimmy Carr was back in the iconic studio for 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (9pm) (it’s one on them edgy mash-up things that the young people love so much), bringing in 1.9 million viewers and an 8% share.
At the same time, Linda Nolan was finally jettisoned from the Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 5, 9pm) house and proceeded to outdo Beverley Callard in the ‘didn’t need to know’ department. Save it for Piers, love. 2.4 million viewers watched the exit interview, resulting in an 11% share.
Earlier, EastEnders managed an audience of 7 million viewers, only to be over-shadowed by the first Coronation Street of the night which was watched by 8.2 million viewers.
Saturday brought a fresh day of programming and another round of hopefuls for the judges on The Voice UK (BBC One, 7pm). The blind auditions (you know – the only part of the 14 week series that people will actually watch) took in an impressive 7.8 million viewers, resulting in Saturday’s biggest audience.
A share of 35% watched as Kylie, Will.i.am and that bloke who used to make actual albums all behaved dramatically in an effort to convince viewers that something exciting was unfolding before their eyes.
BBC One continued to dominate the ratings with The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins (8:15pm) netting 5.2 million viewers and Casualty bagging 4.6 million at 9:15pm. Even a repeat of Mrs Brown’s Boys at 10pm managed to secure 4.7 million viewers and a 24% share.
A little earlier in the underworld of commercial television, Take Me Out (ITV, 8:15pm) continued to make viewers question the future of humanity as 600 spray tanned clones clambered over each other for a chance to procreate with a real life male.
3.6 million viewers watched as the ‘love lift’ delivered a concession of men for the (dignity) sacrifice, resulting in a 17% share.
Speaking of dignity, fun falling-into-water show Splash! (ITV, 6:45pm) was on beforehand as Tom Daley whipped contestants into shape with his permanent smile and plucky ‘can do’ attitude. After the second series took a ratings hit by being put against The Voice UK, the amount of viewers for this series did manage to stabilise, with 3.5 million people tuning in for the Saturday night silliness.
After all the hollow drama and glitzy glamour of Saturday’s light entertainment, last night brought a choice selection of scripted programming…well, once Dancing on Ice (ITV, 6:15pm) was over and done with.
The last ever series of ITV’s answer to Strictly has been bringing in modest numbers since it kicked off four weeks ago, with last night’s effort garnering 5.8 million viewers and the results show falling to 4.4 million at 8:30pm.
At 8pm all other dramas were quivering in fear as the mammothly popular third series of Call the Midwife continued. The exciting second episode saw the nurses turn on each other slightly as one of their own was promoted to sister.
A whopping 9.3 million viewers caught up with the bout of nostalgic pandering about the good old days, resulting in the weekend’s biggest audience and a 34% share.
At 9pm The Musketeers held their own on BBC One as ITV attempted to lure viewers away by appealing to their fickle commercial nature with Mr Selfridge (9pm). The very expensive one hour commercial for a retail outlet won over 4.6 million viewers and an 18% share but couldn’t compete with the BBC One adventure.
The second adventure for d’Artagnan and his new dapperly-clad friends was watched by 6.2 million viewers, despite the show still not knowing what age group it’s trying to appeal to. The Musketeers‘ latest run-in with brazen wenches, swashbuckling foes and Peter Capaldi’s evil cardinal attracted a 24% share.
The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).
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.