Big Brother: Timebomb launches to just 1.7m on Channel 5
After nine long months of living in a merciful Big Brother-free society, last night saw Channel 5 go and ruin everything by launching the first half of a summer-long plan to infest the national’s tellyboxes.
Apparently featuring some sort of explosive chronological twist to proceedings, last night’s Big Brother: Timebomb (9pm) launch show unleashed a new breed of 16 attention-deficient desperados into the new house, while promising lots of mysterious ‘time-based disturbances’.
Apart from messing about with the fabric of the space-time continuum (which is pretty impressive for Channel 5 to be honest) perma-bubbly host Emma Willis decided to evict one particularly annoying housemate after his literal 15 minutes of fame was up.
A little under 2 million viewers tuned in back in June 2014 for the live launch of Big Brother: Power Trip, jumping to just over 3 million viewers for the opening episode of the one millionth series of Celebrity Big Brother in January of this year.
Last night’s two hour extravaganza saw the confident and brash collection of the UK’s most special inhabitants enter the house, spliced in between the usually obnoxious introductory video clips, and pulled in just 1.7 million viewers for its 120 minute running times.
Scenes of Simon, a high-energy theatre company owner, opening a bomb to reveal his time in the spotlight was over helped pull in a 9% share and topped the TV Twitter chart.
Channel 5 cannot be accused of resting on its laurels since acquiring the show from Channel 4, with the Viacom-owned broadcaster airing 13 series of the show since 2011 (including eight separate runs of Celebrity Big Brother).
Meanwhile BBC One continued with its own social experiment, although 24 Hours in the Past (9pm) was a tad less edgy and maybe even had some educational value buried beneath all the industrial soot.
The third episode of the ‘celebrity’ time travelling series saw the collection of BBC employees attempt to survive a whole cycle of the sun in a Victorian factory, capturing 3 million viewers and a 15% share.
At the same time BBC Two aired the third and final part of the latest salt-of-the-earth workplace doc as the Wastemen (9pm) continued to clean up the streets with an audience of 1.8 million and a 9% share.
Over on Channel 4, Paul Abbot’s mucky police dark comedy No Offence (9pm) continued, with the second episode seeing viewers fall from the lofty heights of last week’s 2.2 million, down to 1.4 million and a 7% share.
At 8pm, the medical emotional roller-coaster of Holby City (BBC One) brought in 4.4 million viewers and a 22% share, while the grass-growing fun of The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge (8pm) brought in 1.9 million viewers and a 9% share for BBC Two.
On Channel 4 Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It saw the dynamic duo serve up the same old dish with a slightly different dressing and secured 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
ITV’s evening schedule was all about the latest game from UEFA Champions League Live, with coverage kicking off from 7:45pm. The entire coverage of the game between Bayern Munich and Barcelona secured 3.5 million viewers and a 17% share.
A little earlier, ITV paid a visit to the countryside’s most industrious rural town for another 30 minutes of Emmerdale (7pm) madness. An audience of 5.1 million viewers watched as all-round disaster Robert Sugden drunkenly tried it on with Aaron Livesy, netting a 30% share.
But it was Linda Carter’s latest traumatic incident that took in the day’s top spot on EastEnders (BBC One) at 7:30pm. 6.4 million viewers tuned in to see the aftermath of Linda’s fall, with the noisy labour pains garnering a 34% 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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