ITV rocks Weds night with longform soaps & Cilla’s return
Wednesday heralded a blockbuster night for soap fans as not just the usual one, but two ITV soaps treated viewers to feature-length specials.
The residents of Emmerdale where first up at 7pm and not only was there an unseasonal storm on the sunny horizon but the UK’s unluckiest village also had to deal with a gun-toting psychopath who was on a bit of a ratings-grabbing rampage.
8.1 million viewers watched as a number of unfortunate and underperforming characters were rounded up in a siege in the Woolpack, all worried about who exactly would receive their P45 from the scriptwriting gods in the sky. In the end it was village backbone Alica that got a bullet in her belly (not a euphemism), as the vital and iconic character was on the receiving end of Cameron’s wrath.
The intense action was intercut with scenes of the remaining characters standing outside under an industrial-strength rain machine, doing their best ‘pensive’ and attracting a 39% share.
Next up was the second part of ITV’s soapy double feature as Coronation Street decided to put the inharmonious Platt family through the ringer once again. You’d think after the clan accepted serial killers, career opportunists and a Battersea into the family, they’d be able to look out for each other slightly better.
Instead, Wednesday night’s hour long special detailed the implosion of spectacularly messy sibling rivalry between David and Nick (one got his brother’s wife pregnant, the other tried to kill him). As is soap tradition, all the revelations came flooding out in the church at a conveniently timed christening and secured a 39% share.
It seems that no matter how many gunshots and big budget floods Emmerdale can throw at audiences, the nation still flocks to Coronation Street‘s more (relatively) intimate drama of the cobbles. Wednesday’s biggest audience gathered together to see the brothers’ dirty linen being washed in a very public venue, with 9.2 million viewers tuning in.
Meanwhile in the 9pm slot, ITV paid a few Weatherfield faces a bit of overtime as they popped up in a skit to help celebrate The One and Only Cilla. Hammier than a bag of hammers made of processed pork, the one off special saw our Cilla bring back Blind Date, pop into the Rovers for a tipple and put up with host Paul O’ Grady hogging the limelight.
The 50th anniversary camp hijinks helped ITV continue with its impressive winning streak, as a little over 4 million viewers caught up with Cilla’s sliding door, securing a 20% share and the biggest audience in the prime time slot.
Over on the other side, BBC One had some lovely shots of snails, tress and all things British in its latest wildlife documentary, held together by a precariously vague theme. This week, the unfortunately named The Great British Year focused on the summer season and all the natural activity that comes with it.
2.6 million viewers stayed tuned for an hour of postcard viewing, bringing in a 12% share.
Stephen Fry was once again getting out and about, jetting across the skies to meet gay people from around the world dealing with varying degrees of persecution. The second episode of Stephen Fry: Out There (BBC Two, 9pm) saw the (inter)national treasure find out just how popular he is in Russia and finding out just how Brazil might be degenerating away from the progressive country it currently is. The second episode improved slightly to the first, with just under 1 million viewers joining the broadcaster for his trip.
At the same time, Grand Designs (9pm) provided Channel 4’s biggest audience of the day as yet another entitled couple turned a tiny corner of London into something extremely enviable. 2.5 million viewers watched, realising they were not priced out of South London, netting a 12% share.
And in Channel 5’s corner we had When Gastric Bands Go Wrong, like a two page spread from Take a Break magazine had come to life. 845,000 viewers tuned in to see scene after scene of flabby flesh, resulting in a 4% share.
Earlier on in the day, Hollyoaks (Channel 4, 6:30pm) exploded (yet again) but nobody really noticed -there is very little difference between the stars’ usual tone of full body make up and the special effects applied to make them look like charred corpses.
Just over 1 million viewers tuned in to see which Next catalogue model would survive the expensive blast, while 887,000 headed on straight over to digital channel E4 at 7pm to the aftermath and the cast’s impressive range of emotions.
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.