Bullard’s expletive-riddled trial on I’m A Celeb nets 9.3m
Monday night saw a brand new week of TV, peaking with the first proper night in the jungle for ITV’s desperate celebrities, with squeamish former English midfielder Jimmy Bullard being forced to take part in the first viewer-selected bushtucker trial.
The fourteenth series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (ITV, 9pm) opened with an extra long episode on Sunday night with 10 million viewers tuning in to see former bastion of dignity Michael Buerk skydive from a plane in order to spot giant primary coloured shapes back down on terra firma.
Last night’s trip to the Australian jungle didn’t manage to do as well but scenes of TOWIE‘s Gemma Collins’ self-diagnoses of malaria and general histrionics wearing down her campmates helped secured a 38% share.
But surely it was the prolonged scenes of pony-tailed Bullard losing serious control of his profanity filter while crawling through submerged tanks filled with a vast variety of slippery critters that helped the show grab the number one spot.
9.3 million viewers watched as the ten minute expletive-filled watery trial was edited down to a few minutes of bleep-filled panic, with the show easily securing the day’s biggest audience.
Meanwhile, it looked like BBC One simply bowed down to the unbreakable might of ITV’s jungle extravaganza, modestly offering up a repeat of New Tricks for the prime time slot.
Originally pulling in an overnight figure of 8.7 million viewers back in August 2011, last night’s retro adventure in crusty crime solving went a bit Spooks as the team had to deal with those dodgy government people while investigating the death of a cold fusion scientist.
Last night 2.9 million viewers tuned in for the reheated yarn, netting a 12% share along the way.
The procedural crime drama was slightly more stylised and moody over on Channel 5 as detective Gordon was fingered by a homeless man in Gotham (9pm).
An audience of 1 million viewers tuned in to see the idealist police officer get pinned for the murder of Oswald Cobblepot, despite the fact the victim was alive and well and firmly on his path to becoming The Penguin. The latest tale from the pre-Batman world secured a 4% share for the channel.
Over on Channel 4, the procedural crime drama went through yet another mutation, with 24 Hours in Police Custody (9pm) carefully editing real life events into a digestible and gripping format.
The seventh and final episode of the ground breaking series, the officers were in their usual 24 hour race against time to gather enough evidence to charge suspects.
The show opened with 1.6 million viewers at the end of September and has continued to perform well each week, although last night’s audience represented a -36% fall on the first, probably thanks to ITV’s jungle trials.
A little over 1 million viewers tuned in to figure out if three women arrested in a raid on a brothel were victims or active instigators of their situation, resulting in a 5% share.
With summer officially a distant memory, the two soaps that aren’t Coronation Street are securing a more solid audience the past few weeks.
Emmerdale, at 7pm on ITV, brought some more tea time crime to the masses, with 6.5 million viewers tuning in to discover how to strip a stolen car for parts, netting a 32% share.
At 8pm, EastEnders brought a solid 7 million viewers to BBC One as Stan Carter’s big secret started to leak, netting a 30% share for the London soap.
A double helping of Coronation Street kicked off at 7:30pm on ITV as the big plot that’s had the nation on the edge of their seats finally came to a head.
The first episode brought in an audience of 7.7 million viewers (a 36% share) as scorned woman Sally Webster kicked down the door of number six, interrupting a secret rendezvous from man-child Tim and good time girl Anna Windass.
Unusually, the audience actually increased to 7.9 million viewers at 8:30pm as Sally discovered her man was actually receiving some sly reading lessons, securing the day’s second biggest audience with 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.
To get all the latest MediaTel Newsline updates follow us on Twitter.