BBC One’s London housing satire Capital débuts with 3.8m
In a dense sea of televised reality spectaculars, Tuesday night saw BBC One launch a new scripted drama, Capital (9pm), in an effort to usher in some fresh air to the schedule.
Adapted from a 2012 novel focusing on the fortunes of those living on an affluent South London street, the satire about the London property bubble sees an impressive cast playing residents from all different types of background.
Starring Toby Jones as one of them bankers pushing house prices up, Adeel Akhtar as the corner shop owner and Gemma Jones as a long-standing resident, the drama unfolds as each household on the streets receives a protagonistic note claiming ‘we want what you have.’
The highly relevant and opportune adaptation comes from writer Peter Bowker, whose recently well-received output (From There to Here, Eric and Ernie, Marvellous) ensured the potentially clunky tale was in safe hands.
An audience of 3.8 million viewers tuned in for the first of three episodes, in which the cluster of anonymous neighbours struggled to accept their connections and similarities, resulting in a 16% share.
Of course the intriguing drama didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of competing with the might of a 66 year old Jamaican socialite slyly threatening to teach her fellow celebrity jungle camp mates a lesson by slitting their throats in their sleep.
The visit to the Australian outdoor television studio treacherous and over-run jungle of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (9pm) was pretty much business as usual as the TOWIE/Geordie Shore combo of Ferne and Vicky continued to suspiciously communicate as if they were on a pre-scripted ‘constructed reality’ show while Lady Colin Campbell still gently pushed everyone else to the edge of their sanity.
The latest news from the New South Wales colonists overshadowed all of the day’s competition, with last night’s scenes of squabbling and mental exhaustion bringing in 7.5 million viewers, a 32% share and once again topping the TV Twitter chart.
There was more anarchy on offer over on BBC Two with the fourth instalment of The Great Pottery Throw Down (9pm) seeing the potters being tasked with viewing judge Keith Brymer Jones’ bizarre barely-there hairstyle once again.
Exactly like The Great British Bake Off but with less yummy results, last night saw the six remaining contestants tasked with building a garden sculpture out of slabs of clay, with the results turning Brymer Jones into a weeping mess.
1.7 million viewers caught up with the latest deluge of double entendres and firmly-gripped wet clay creations, resulting in a 7% share.
[advert position=”left”]Over on Channel 4, 1.2 million viewers tuned in to see the broadcaster’s own brand version of Casualty that does away with those expensive actors and superfluous scriptwriters, with the latest clutch of bodily traumas helping 24 Hours in A&E (9pm) secure 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share.
On Channel 5 nightmare husband and wife presenting team Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford pretended to be just like us as they gawped at the filthy rich in the latest Eamonn and Ruth: How the Other Half Lives (9pm), which was watched by 701,000 viewers and a 3% share.
Earlier at 8pm Holby City (BBC One) secured 4.1 million viewers and a 19% share while MasterChef: The Professionals brought in 3.2 million and a 15% share to BBC Two.
Meanwhile, in Doctor Christian’s corner of wrong, Channel 4 launched House of Hypochondriacs (8pm) – a national platform for the NHS’s terminal timewasters to soak up their 15 minutes – with the mentally troubled teatime fun securing 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
Even earlier in the murky realm of soap, an hour long edition of ITV’s Emmerdale (7pm) was purposely set on a direct collision course with a solo outing of BBC One’s EastEnders (7:30pm).
5.8 million viewers tuned in for another depressing wedding from the Yorkshire Dales (no flash floods or exploding aviation vehicles this time though), resulting in a 28% share.
Meanwhile in Albert Square, the Mitchell clan continued to make family look like an aggressive infection, with their latest woes bringing in just 4.5 million viewers and a 21% share to BBC One.
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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