Election 2015 beaten by Alfie and Kat’s one good day on EastEnders
After many weeks of campaigning and intense media coverage, last night saw the Tory party hold on to their political authority with a forceful death grip, while broadcasters across the country were desperately attempting to muster up some energy in order to keep the masses entertained and informed throughout the exhausting Election 2015.
As expected, viewers tuned to BBC One in droves to see never-ending clips of people putting paper into boxes as well as the bevy of last-minute campaign attempts from the party leaders.
Thankfully, cuddly granddad and veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby was there to take viewers by the hand and walk them through the long night of counting and guesswork news reports.
BBC One’s coverage kicked off at 9:55pm, with the analysis of ‘the most unpredictable election in decades’ rolling all the way to 6am this morning.
Last night a peak audience of 6.4 million viewers tuned in at 10:45pm to see the BBC’s top presenting talent assemble in various London locations en masse, while the first lady of Sunday slumber TV, Fiona Bruce, was relegated to the wilderness of Sunderland.
An average of 4.3 million viewers watched the entire eight hours of bombastic balloting coverage, resulting in an impressive 39% share.
Things weren’t going so great over on commercial broadcaster ITV as Tom Bradby and Julie Etchingham delivered a plethora of late night Election 2015 (9:55pm) coverage themselves but failed to compete with Dimbleby’s statesman-like calm.
Just an average audience of 892,000 viewers stayed tuned to ITV until 6am this morning, resulting in an 8% share and a limp peak of 1.5 million viewers at 10pm last night.
If the wall-to-wall super serious piece-to-camera from painfully earnest reporters on the two main channels was too much to bear, Channel 4 provided an ‘alternative’ take on the night’s events (which basically meant shipping in a boatload of stand-up comedians and the odd use of naughty language).
Kicking off at 9pm, Channel 4’s Alternative Election Night brought the presenting mash-up of Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell and more comedians than is generally sensible to have on screen at the same time.
The half hour introduction show was watched by 1.6 million viewers and an 8%.
Afterwards, The Last Leg Alternative Election Special (9:30pm) saw Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe reunite for 30 minutes of ‘edgy’ humour, resulting in 1.9 million viewers and a 9% share.
At 10pm it seemed like the broadcaster was once again actively attempting to make cult hit Gogglebox jump the shark with another dodgy spin-off episode that betrayed its simplistic angle.
Gogglebox Alternative Election Special (10pm) saw Jeremy Paxman update the masses of the exit poll results, while getting the telly watching stars’ opinions on the election campaigns, bringing in 1.8 million viewers and a 10% share, while Paxman and Mitchell: More Alternative Election (11pm) made up the final hour of the night with 1.1 million viewers and a 9% share.
Outside the hyperbole of politics, it was business as usual in the 9pm slot, with BBC One kicking of a three-part documentary series called Shark.
The stunningly shot wildlife programme (about sharks, incidentally) brought in the biggest 9pm audience, with 3.6 million viewers tuning in for the HD shots of beautiful blue oceans, resulting in a 17% share.
On BBC Two, clandestine thriller The Game continued at 9pm with 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share.
On ITV, consumer outrage show Fraud Squad (9pm) was watched by 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share, while Alex Polizzi continued to be a bit of a d**k to strangers in The Hotel Inspector (9pm) which was watched by 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
As if anyone was in doubt, the future of the United Kingdom was only an afterthought for soap fans who helped BBC One and ITV’s offerings take the day’s top three spots.
At 7pm, Emmerdale (ITV) continued to deal with Laurel Dingle’s fondness of the drink, netting 5.3 million viewers and 5.2 million viewers for the second visit at 8pm.
On BBC One at 7:30pm, EastEnders confirmed a long-running theory that life immediately gets better once characters step outside of Albert Square.
6.1 million viewers watched as Kat And Alfie decided to spend a day in actual real life London, managing to immediately put their problems behind them and win £1 million on a scratch card in the process.
A 34% share tuned in to see the first nice thing to ever happen to the long-suffering characters, netting the day’s number one spot despite yesterday’s unmitigated media madness.
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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