ITV’s comedy line-up of Newzoids and Delivery Man both down 1m after one week
Last night saw the new jewel in BBC One’s Wednesday line-up come to a close after three short episodes, with the 9pm slot’s biggest audience coming back in droves to say goodbye to the lightweight and comfy format of Secret Britain.
Stealing some of Countryfile‘s presenters and scenery, the second series of the easy-to-digest travelogue was the biggest show in its time slot for three weeks running. Last night, some 4 million viewers tuned in to see Ellie Harrison and Adam Henson wander about the Scottish highlands, netting a 20% share.
Meanwhile on Channel 4, there was a different appreciation for nature in the much more dynamic second series of The Island with Bear Grylls (9pm).
Still featuring far too much Bear Grylls for most right minded people’s tastes, the third week of the new series – and the fifth episode overall – invited viewers back to the men’s island. Although things weren’t going as disastrously (and outright hilariously) bad as the women’s island, there was still plenty of struggling and hissy fits to keep viewers addicted.
2.1 million viewers watched as the men decided to complement their lovely fire with some actual food, leading to further clashes, an endangered caiman and a 10% share.
ITV continued to bring the ‘hilarity’ as its new Wednesday night comedy line-up returned for a second week. The puppetry mayhem of Newzoids continued at 9pm, falling from last week’s début audience of 3.4 million viewers, all the way down to 2.4 million and a 12% share.
Also not doing so well was the 9:30pm maternity ward sitcom, The Delivery Man, which was down from last week’s 2.5 million to 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
Meanwhile BBC Two was busy unsettling Wednesday night viewers with the latest bite of sharp reality in This World (9pm). As terrifying as World’s Richest Terror Army was, it only secured 1.1 million viewers and a 6% share.
At the same time, Channel 5 was busy ushering a new age of darkness with a brand new series of the delightful and charming Autopsy: The Last Hours of… (9pm).
Having covered the deaths of Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Karen Carpenter in painfully honest and intrusive details, the series returned for a short three part third series (I guess beloved celebrities aren’t dying off at the rate producers were hoping for).
In a traumatising case of way too soon it was the turn of tragic funny man Robin Williams to get the dissection treatment, with the sordid specifics netting 1.5 million and a 7% share.
Earlier at 7:30pm on BBC One The Leader Interviews: Nigel Farage got underway with Evan Davies putting the UKIP head and its policies under scrutiny. Unsurprisingly, the show topped the TV Twitter chart and pulled in 2.5 million viewers and a 14% share.
At 8pm, MasterChef netted 5.1 million viewers on BBC One while BBC Two’s offering, Alex Polizzi: Chef Trial, was watched by just 817,000 people.
On ITV, there were plenty of insincere celebrities cooing over poorly moggies in Give a Pet a Home (8pm) which bagged 2.5 million viewers and a 13% share.
Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) took the day’s second place with 5.2 million viewers and a 31% share while Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) grabbed the top spot afterwards by enticing 6.1 million viewers and a 34% share to the cobbles.
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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