EastEnders tops Tuesday’s viewing with Phil/Bobby showdown
You know when a year old repeat of Death in Paradise (BBC One) is the jewel in the any given schedule’s crown, we’re truly in the midst of the desolate summer TV season.
To make matters worse, this is the second week in a row that the lightweight and sunny show about manslaughter nabbed the 9pm window away from its competitors.
While the bumbling-English-detective-out-of-water format has gone from strength-to-strength despite losing its main ‘star’ (Ben Miller offered himself up for the slaughter in series three’s opening episode), the recent success is more down to the large vacuum of appealing content on rival channels.
Last night’s trip to the treacherous, yet beautifully frivolous, Caribbean island of Saint Marie saw that meagre bloke off those BT adverts investigate the apparent suicide of a politician, in an episode cleverly entitled Political Suicide.
Although it only managed to attract around half the audience that originally watched the same episode last year, last night’s taste of silly slaying netted 3.3 million viewers and a 17% share, resulting in the biggest hit in its timeslot.
The atmosphere was a little heavier over on BBC Two as the third and final episode of Great Ormond Street‘s (9pm) third series came to an end. The touching show about young children displaying huge amounts of bravery despite their predicaments was watched by 1.7 million viewers and a 9% share.
At the same time, ITV wrapped up its short series of confused promotional pieces for an airline, with the third and final episode of Virgin Atlantic: Up in the Air (9pm) bringing back those super peppy employees as they continued to drink the cool-aid in liberal proportions.
Opening up with 2.3 million viewers two weeks ago, last week’s instalment actually saw the audience rise to 2.7 million viewers but yesterday’s final flight wasn’t so lucky.
2.6 million viewers watched as the Virgin team got very excited as they reviewed a new Dreamliner, netting a 13% share.
Over on Channel 4, there was another opportunity to watch small children get more upset than those featured on Great Ormond Street, as the penultimate episode of Child Genius (9pm) saw more tiny brainiacs crash and burn. The latest intense aptitude test secured 1.1 million viewers and a 6% share.
There was another kind of uncomfortable gawping experience over on Channel 5 as Benefits by the Sea: Jaywick (9pm) documented some more sorry desperation. An audience of 1.3 million viewers tuned in to visit the coastal Essex town, resulting in a 7% share and the broadcaster’s biggest hit of the day.
[advert position=”left”]Earlier at 8pm, Holby City netted 4.1 million viewers and a 22% share on BBC One while The House That £100k Built took in 1.6 million and an 8% share on BBC Two.
Elsewhere, ITV’s Love Your Garden (8pm) brought in 2.6 million viewers and a 14% share, Channel 4’s Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners (8pm) netted 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share while The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies (8pm) on Channel 5 secured 996,000 viewers and a 5% share.
Even earlier at 7pm, small town tension in Emmerdale (ITV) was reaching a feverish pitch as Aaron plotted revenge for the latest attempted murder to beset the once peaceful village.
An audience of 5.3 million viewers watched as Aaron found out his fella tried to kill Paddy, resulting in a 31% share and the day’s second biggest hit.
But Tuesday’s TV glory belonged solely to BBC One’s EastEnders (BBC One) as the Beale’s continued to deal with the fallout of harbouring a teeny tiny killer.
A little over 6 million viewers tuned in at 7:30pm to see Phil Mitchell confront the Beale’s about their highly dubious behaviour, only for mini-Norman Bates, Bobby, to come in with a classic golf club sneak attack.
The latest attempt to wrap up the Lucy Beale storyline once and for all netted a 34% share for BBC One and was the second most tweeted about show on Tuesday.
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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