Channel 4’s reality manhunt Hunted tops Twitter & nets 1.7m
Thursday night saw radical broadcaster Channel 4 once again push the boundaries of television by basing yet another semi-reality show on real people who are desperate to get on TV.
Debuting at 9pm last night, Hunted promised viewers real life thrills as real people they found in a talent agency attempted to go on the run for an entire month, hotly pursued by a crack team of actors in the biggest affront to audiences’ intelligence since the advent of TOWIE.
Naturally, those that like to simultaneously stare at their mobile devices while enthralled with the conversation on Twitter, helped the show top Thursday’s TV Twitter chart.
The first of six thrilling episodes of the manhunt reality series saw one particular contestant fail to grasp the entire premise of the show and reached out to her family, leading directly to her ‘intense’ capture.
A total of 1.7 million viewers tuned in to get the heart thumping, with the whole Morrison’s own-brand Jason Bourne feel resulting in a 9% share.
Straight up afterwards, there were even more reality TV stars-in-waiting on the new series of First Dates (Channel 4, 10pm), which is essentially an excruciating public audition tape for the talent to show off their unique ‘character’.
1.1 million viewers tuned in for the sometimes awkward, sometimes false, but mostly enthralling despite ourselves, slice of guilty late night TV, resulting in an 8% share and the second most talked-about show on Twitter.
Over on BBC One, that charming boyish songstrel that your mother probably likes, Gareth Malone, was this week’s target on Who Do You Think You Are? (9pm), with last night’s episode thankfully dispensing of the contrived tragedy.
After the series opened with Paul Hollywood’s heart-breaking wartime relations netting 4.1 million, last night’s dose of genealogical sleuthing continued the 12th series’ downward trend.
Choirmaster Malone – who seems to be mutating into Alan Partridge – made for the perfect subject as he bounced forward in his journey with giddy enthusiasm, delighted to uncover ancestors whose path in life bore a striking resemblance to his own.
3.9 million viewers watched as the 39 year old child followed the scent of cheap drink and suspect dance halls on a path to Liverpool and then Dublin, resulting in a 20% share, an awkward jig and a pint of Guinness.
ITV’s evening offerings were a little more varied, with the penultimate episode of Flockstars (8:30pm) – likely a commissioning producer’s joke that’s gone too far – wrangling 1.9 million viewers and a 10% share.
[advert position=”left”]Afterwards, the third episode of Stephen Fry in Central America (9pm) saw the adventurer visit El Salvador and Honduras.
1.8 million viewers watched as Fry tried his hand at a bit of surfing before meeting a lady who killed and cooked her six husbands, netting a 9% share.
There was more double comedy on BBC Two as Danny Baker’s life story continued in Cradle to Grave (9pm) which brought in 1.8 million viewers (a 9% share), while the love story with a twist Boy Meets Girl was watched by 1.1 million viewers (a 6% share) at 9:30pm.
At 8pm Channel 5 exclusively revealed the tasteful and timely The Last Secrets of 9/11 which brought in 782,000 viewers and a 4% share, while the compound-dwelling creatures of Celebrity Big Brother (9pm) were watched by 1.5 million and an 8% share.
Earlier the schedule was chock-a-block with soaps, as an hour-long Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) once again clashed with its BBC One rival and netted 5.1 million viewers and a 29% share.
Meanwhile on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm), it was time for Jane Beale to cry traumatically again, with the latest bout of guilt-induced snottery netting just 4.7 million viewers and a 24% share.
But ITV’s Coronation Street took the day’s top spot at 8pm as 6.3 million viewers and 33% share watched Tracey Barlow get arrested for the 7,000th time, just because it was a Thursday, probably.
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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