Channel 4’s latest immigration doc fails to ignite debate
Thursday night saw Channel 4 delve back into murky outrage-enticing waters, with a brand new four part documentary detailing the plight of asylum seekers forced to live in Sheffield in the interestingly titled Keeping Up With the Khans (9pm).
The latest Twitter-baiting output from Immigration Street and Benefits Street maker Love Productions (in fairness, they are responsible for far cuddlier programmes like Bake Off and Sew Offs and Pottery Throw Down too) focused on a variety of characters attempting to make the UK their home.
Hailing from Libya, Cameroon, Sudan and Lebanon, the stars of the show aimed to be as successful as the established Pakistani communities in the area, resulting in the stretching-things-a-bit-too-far title.
Not quite hitting the heights of its predecessors, in both the knee-jerk social media reaction and ratings stakes, the tale of lives being lived in legal limbo scored an audience of just 975,000 viewers, a 4% share.
Not only that but the show scientifically designed to court controversy couldn’t even get the easily mobilised Twitterati up in arms, generating just over 2,000 tweets during the broadcast.
[advert position=”left”]Perhaps indicating that the general audience is finally catching on to broadcaster’s transparent attempts at stirring the pot to attract revenue in the easiest possible way ‘sparking worthy debate’, because god knows the planet’s overwhelming and varied social issues will not be solved in 140 characters or less.
Things were markedly less controversial over on BBC One at the same time as cosy murder show Death in Paradise (9pm) brought viewers some more scenes of sunshine and untimely, but always entertaining, bereavements.
The prime time slots biggest audience all took leave on the beautiful but deadly Caribbean island of Sainte Marie as Keith Allen and Wendy Craig were the latest guest stars to suck up their pride and grab that pay check, resulting in 6.2 million viewers and a 28% share.
On BBC Two, The Story of China continued as the third episode focused on the Golden Age, netting 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
Meanwhile, ITV’s epic northern western, Jericho (9pm), eased its steady decent into obscurity slightly, with the fourth episode of the historical yarn bucking the trend and seeing a week on week rise.
Opening with 3 million viewers, the next two episodes saw a steady decline in viewers, with yesterday’s instalment removing a little from last week’s low of 2.3 million.
Yesterday saw the audience jump all the way back up to 2.4 million viewers as the neglected workers of the Yorkshire shanty town began to get a little restless, resulting in an 11% share.
At the same time, 2.2 million viewers tuned into Channel 5 to catch up on the fragile mental state of Celebrity Big Brother‘s (9pm) inhabitants, resulting in a 10% share.
At 8pm, Dickensian bagged 2.2 million viewers and a 10% share on BBC One, followed by Room 101 (8:30pm) which brought in 2.5 million and a 12% share.
On ITV, Birds of a Feather (8:30pm) continued to happen as 4.2 million viewers watched as Dorien was threatened with eviction from the Chigwell mansion, resulting in a 20% share.
On Channel 5, Big Brother’s Bit on the Side (8pm) broadcast live from inside the house, for some reason, and brought in 836,000 viewers and a 4% share.
The first Emmerdale of the evening took Thursday’s top spot at 7pm on ITV as the soap continued to delve head on into a very difficult storyline. 6.4 million viewers tuned in to see Chas Dingle confront Gordon about his sons accusations, resulting in a 33% share.
The second visit to the Dales brought in 6 million viewers and a 28% share at 8pm.
BBC One’s EastEnders took second place, with Phil Mitchell’s release from hospital giving him the perfect excuse to polish off the rest of his pickled liver, netting 6.1 million viewers and a 31% 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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