Channel 4’s shouty man challenge SAS: Who Dares Wins bags 1.7m
Monday night saw Channel 4 launch its latest ‘ground breaking’ documentary, with SAS: Who Dares Wins (10pm) delivering a giant dollop of shouty and sinewy alpha male aggression as normal humans were put through extreme physical challenges.
Finally allowing regular TV viewing folk to see the extreme selection process for the first time, the show came across like one of those annoying muddy triathlons everyone’s at on Facebook, except serialised and to be savoured over five longs weeks.
Whereas last year’s Royal Marine Commando School pushed the envelope a bit by giving viewers unprecedented insights into the inner workings of their particular recruitment process, SAS: Who Dares Wins favoured the competitive reality route by featuring ex-service men ‘recreating’ the hellish selection process with candidates who probably just want to be on TV.
For this series, all the participants seemed to be suspiciously TV-ready, losing all of the magic in the process.
Last night saw 1.7 million viewers tune in to watch the hopefuls face the most torturous interview process imaginable (next series of The Apprentice should really take note) with the 30 candidates proving their manliness and securing an 8% share.
Afterwards at 10pm, Channel 4 offered up some quality scripted drama in the form of the second series of Fargo. Based on the cult 1996 Coen Brothers movie, the first series came in the form of a semi-sequel, while the second run jumped back to 1979 to form a prequel.
Jumping back 36 years and adding in a whole new cast of characters could have been a dodgy enough proposition, but based on last night’s outing it seems to have dodged the True Detective: Season 2-shaped bullet that many were expecting.
An audience of 673,000 viewers tuned in for the newest Minnesota murder cautionary tale, with the chance to see Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson and Nick Offerman in garish 70s garb netting a 5% share.
Also at 10pm was another hotly anticipated American import as the grimmer-than-Game-of-Thrones sixth series of The Walking Dead continued to charm of FOX.
After limited companion show Fear the Walking Dead disappeared without a trace on BT’s newly launched AMC channel, last week’s return on FOX saw the sixth season premiere secure 854,000 live viewers while netting around 20 million consolidated viewers in the US.
Yesterday’s serving of trauma saw the status quo once again come under attack by scary humans and brought in 725,000 viewers and a 3% share.
Back in the 9pm slot, it was ITV’s in-house doctor that beat its rivals, with the latest episode of Doc Martin seeing the small town medical practitioner come down with a case of jealously.
[advert position=”left”]The latest low-effort fun from Portwenn bagged a solid 5.8 million viewers for the commercial broadcaster, resulting in a 27% share.
Over on BBC One, Traffic Cops (9pm) was watched by 2.5 million viewers and an 11% share while Channel 5’s winning formula produced Benefits: Britain’s Most Shameless Mum which secured 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
On BBC Two it was time for the third and final part of The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver (9pm) which saw presenters Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver (just in case the gratuitously long title didn’t make it clear enough) look into the fall of the many bloody tribes.
1.5 million viewers tuned in to see kick-ass Queen Boudicca and her British Iceni tribe attempt to rid the land of the Roman occupation once and fall all (spoilers: it didn’t go so well). The downer of an ending secured a 7% share.
Stuffed in-between ITV’s soaps at 8pm was the broadcaster’s Countryfile-type effort Countywise which was watched by 3.1 million viewers and a 14% share.
On BBC One, Panorama (8:30pm) profiled China’s visiting communist leader, the only slightly-scary Xi Jinping, with The Xi Factor netting 1.8 million and a 9% share.
Monday’s usual soap explosion bagged the day’s top spots, with a double Coronation Street (ITV) leading the way. 7.3 million viewers (a 35% share) tuned in at 7:30pm, followed by 6.6 million viewers (a 31% share) at 8:30pm.
In third place was EastEnders at 8pm on BBC One as viewers finally unravelled Les Coker’s big secret. 6.3 million viewers tuned in to discover his cross dressing alter ego Christine, resulting in a 29% share.
At 7pm, Emmerdale secured the day’s fourth biggest audience on ITV, with the latest rural madness resulting in 6.1 million viewers and a 32% 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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