England’s defeat against Wales peaks at 11m on ITV
Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One, 9pm) exploded back onto the nation’s TV screens on Friday night in a camp fireball of pomp and glitz as 15 new hopefuls attempted to salsa, tango and foxtrot their way into viewers hearts.
An audience of 7.7 million tuned in for the hour-long opener which saw such relevant celebrities as Daniel O’Donnell, Peter Andre and Carol Kirkwood grab their prospective partners and impress the panel of returning judges.
The weekend’s first slice of high energy and sparkly light entertainment secured a 36% share for BBC One.
Channel 4’s voyeuristic TV ‘review’ show Gogglebox (9pm) was noticeably affected by the sequins and flashing lights on the other side. Opening up with 3.5 million viewers two weeks ago, the latest episode in the sixth series fell to 2.7 million viewers and a 13% share, which can’t be totally blamed on those two new lasses from Leeds.
At the same time on ITV, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (9pm) brought in 1.5 million viewers as the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon had a go at the transparent PR exercise, resulting in a 7% share.
Behaving like it was some aggressive ITV show, Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One, 6:15pm) was back for a second night in a row and somehow managed to secure the exact same audience.
Once again, 7.7 million viewers (and a slightly higher 40% share) tuned in to see the contestants attempt to keep their intense smiles going for a full hour and a half.
7:15pm brought the weekend’s biggest event to ITV as England geared up to take on the might of Wales in the latest Rugby World Cup game.
After awakening the dragons, the England team and their fans were in for a disappointing night, but managed to bag an average audience of 8.3 million viewers (2.5 million of those viewing in shiny HD) and a 38% share, the weekend’s biggest audience.
The game peaked to an impressive 11 million viewers around 9:30pm in the final 15 minutes as England desperately tried to improve their odds.
Saturday evening wasn’t so kind to BBC One, with two flagship shows losing their pull when up against the chance to get boozy and patriotic on ITV.
7:45pm brought the concluding part of Doctor Who‘s (BBC One) opening story as the Dalek’s continued to become understood cuddly toys. After the ninth series opened with 4.6 million viewers last week, only 3.7 million viewers tuned in on Saturday to see how Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord could defeat an immobile and nearly dead Davros, resulting in a 17% share.
Afterwards, reliable medical drama Casualty (9:25pm) was watched by 3.8 million and a 17% share.
Sunday brought a whole new selection of telly goodness with Ireland clashing against Romania kicking off the evening’s entertainment with the Rugby World Cup. 2.7 million viewers tuned in at 4:30pm to see Ireland defeat their rivals, netting a 20% share.
BBC One’s Sunday standards got underway at 6:30pm, with Countryfile securing 4.4 million viewers ad a 24% share while Antiques Roadshow brought in 5.3 million viewers and a 24% share at 7:30pm.
7pm finally saw ITV air its side-lined reality competition The X Factor as many more hopefuls faced the slaughter at Boot Camp. The latest overblown drama was watched by 6.8 million viewers and a 31% share.
A bit later BBC One once again tried in vain to offer up some quality period alternative to ITV’s Downton with its latest Sunday night adaptation. Cider with Rosie (8:30pm), the latest in the season of classic 20th-century literature adaptations, did a lot better than last week’s The Go-Between and secured 3.8 million viewers and a 17% share.
But it was the second episode of Downton Abbey‘s (ITV, 9pm) last hooray that took Sunday’s top spot as Lady Edith continued to be one of those ‘modern women’. 7 million viewers watched as the Crawley family once again had to face the reality of their aging set-up, resulting in a 31% share.
Over on Channel 4, writer and director Shane Meadows was determined to ruin everybody’s weekend by delivering a truly grim episode of This is England ’90 (9pm).
The penultimate episode of the finale series turned dark after a breezy two episodes and focused on a very uncomfortable dinner party, securing 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share and generating a lot of buzz on Twitter.
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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