Fresh Game of Thrones horror nets 1m live viewers and tops Twitter
Monday night’s line up brought a reality-heavy mixture of documentaries, geriatric comedies and pure unadulterated escapism, with BBC One’s latest observational show netting the 9pm slot.
The Met: Policing London (9pm), the first of five hour-long programmes, followed a diverse selection of the capital’s law enforcement officers and demonstrated the usual tropes surrounding the workplace doc by balancing out serious scenes with more light-hearted ‘human’ moments.
An audience of 3.3 million viewers tuned in to see the force grow anxious as the inquiry into the death of a young man released its results, prompting fears of a repeat of the London Riots. The result was a 16% share and the biggest audience in its time slot.
On Channel 5, there were more scenes of people going about their jobs but Inside Manchester’s Midland Hotel (9pm) was, at least, a little more light hearted.
The second episode of the four part documentary series saw the staff welcome a white collar boxing event to the hotel, while simultaneously attempting to keep the peace and maximize alcohol sales. Uh oh.
Similar to BBC Two’s prestigious Inside Claridge’s but a lot more Channel 5, the disaster-in-the-making brought in an audience of 789,000 viewers and a 4% share.
At the same time on Channel 4, Grand Design‘s Kevin McCloud wasn’t showcasing some uberconfident professionals’ plans for stunning builds, instead showing their questionable, extreme and privileged lifestyle choices in Kevin McCloud’s Escape to the Wild (9pm).
The first episode looked at a family who relocated to a deserted island in Tonga, just for the hell of it. 1.9 million viewers tuned in to see if Kevin could discover if a simpler life does make us happier (the answer was a resounding… ‘kind of’), resulting in a 9% share and Channel 4’s biggest hit of the day.
BBC Two also got caught up in a bit of wanderlust with the first instalment of calming and trippy travelogue Japan: Earth’s Enchanted Islands (9pm).
Pumping out more zen by the bucket load, the opening episode travelled to the island of Honshu and detailed the balance between modern city life and nature and secured an astounding 2.6 million viewers and a 12% share.
Over on ITV, it was time to roll out the funny times with a double bill of old fashioned humour. At 9pm Vicious saw spatting partners Freddie and Stuart sign up for a gym membership. 2.4 million viewers tuned in to see 76-year-old actors Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi give it their all, securing an 11% share.
Straight afterwards at 9:30pm Off Their Rockers brought in 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
Meanwhile, there was a solid alternative to all that lightness as Sky Atlantic offered up the penultimate episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones (9pm).
A little over 1 million live viewers tuned in to see if things in Westoros can actually get worse after that scene last week, with the actions of the last remaining Baratheon brother incensing Twitter with his actions. The brutal actions helped the show easily top yesterday’s Twitter TV chart and secured a 5% share for Sky Atlantic.
It was the soaps that successfully ruled over the early evening schedule, with ITV’s Emmerdale bagging 5.8 million (a 32% share) at 7pm, with BBC One’s EastEnders netting 6.2 million (a 31% share) at 8pm.
But it was the continuing woes of Gail’s love life on Coronation Street (ITV) that took Monday’s top spot, with 7 million viewers and a 36% share tuning in at 7:30pm to see Les Dennis get a heart attack, increasing to 7.1 million viewers and a 34% 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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