Davina’s extreme dryness prime time nature show bags 3.4m on ITV
Monday saw the first instalment of ITV’s Davina McCall: Life at the Extreme lead a fairly underwhelming beginning to a fresh week of telly, with the former Big Brother presenter’s slightly contrived travelogue securing the biggest prime time audience.
While the usual title seemed slightly misleading (don’t worry – she’s not back on the smack or interviewing the destitute), things all became clear in the opening moments as viewers were told that somehow Davina was actually in a highbrow show with some of that educational science stuff sprinkled on for good measure – because commercial broadcasters are just renowned for doing this stuff well.
So instead of base jumping off private skyscrapers (I believe that falls under the xtreme moniker) McCall was fronting an apparently randomly generated new show in which the seasoned presenter visits places that are a bit on the hot/cold/wet spectrum, in order to marvel at the HD surroundings like only a professional can.
A total audience of 3.4 million viewers tuned in to see the excitable presenter travel to the deserts of Namibia (that’s the ‘dry’ part done, then), meet the locals, race with a cheetah and mostly be very warm.
The opening episode of the half-baked ‘adventure’ secured a 17% share but still managed to net the 9pm slot for ITV.
Meanwhile, BBC One had its comedy sleuthing cap on with another worrying investigation about the war between crime syndicates and the police at 8:30pm. Panorama – Cops, Criminals, Corruption: The Inside Story unearthed exclusive footage of deals going down, with the tangled web bringing in 2.5 million viewers and a 12% share.
Afterwards at 9:30pm, yet another repeat of Mrs Brown’s Boys bagged 2.8 million viewers, with the tale of Agnes giving internet dating a go securing a 14% share.
Over on BBC Two, high-end pantomime American Crime Story continued with its third episode at 9pm as Robert Shapiro (John Travolta’s husk) assembled a legal team of such immense power to tackle all that bothersome evidence building against OJ Simpson.
While the show hasn’t done spectacularly well, so far it has managed to hang onto a loyal audience. The show opened with 1.7 million viewers two weeks ago, with last week’s white Ford Bronco chase securing 1.6 million viewers while yesterday’s legal preparations matched that audience exactly, resulting in an 8% share.
Over on Channel 4, there was plenty more soul searching, struggle and hijinks in the latest Royal Navy School (9pm) which brought in 1.5 million viewers and an 8% share.
After last week’s delve into the fantastically silly, Channel 5’s The X Files was back on broody territory at 9pm. Mulder and Scully’s latest case in the short-lived series saw the pair dealing with some gruesome murders while dealing with their connected past, resulting in 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share.
Meanwhile on FOX, the second half of The Walking Dead‘s (9pm) sixth series continued to explore the show’s new-found sense of optimism, with 920,000 viewers tuning in to see the survivors taking a break from dying horribly and took some time out to worry about growing tomatoes, resulting in a 5% share.
Monday night also saw the début of Family Guy on ITV2 at 9pm, with the move seeing the anarchic American import doing well after BBC Three’s demise.
Two weeks ago just under half a million viewers tuned in to see the final episode to air on the digital channel’s final night, with last night’s all-new début bringing in 637,000 viewers and a 3% share.
Earlier on Channel 4, the final episode of Supershoppers (9pm) super-sized itself into a full sixty minutes and attracted 1.5 million viewers and an 8% share with its juicy consumer secrets.
Once again the onslaught of shouty soap action dominated Monday’s viewing with Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) taking fourth place with 6.3 million viewers, followed by the later episode of Coronation Street at 8:30pm bagging third place with 6.5 million viewers.
EastEnders (BBC One) saw prodigal wife Honey Mitchell prepare to return to her husband’s abode at 8pm, resulting in 6.7 million viewers and a 30% share.
The first visit to the well-worn cobble of Coronation Street at 7:30pm took the top spot as Carla Connor and Tracey Barlow continued to play monopoly with all the street’s great real estate opportunities, resulting in 7.1 million viewers and a 33% 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.