ITV’s Coronation Street dominates in build-up to live episode
Once again yesterday saw ITV claim some Monday glory with a double offensive of Coronation Street action taking the top two spots as the soap built up towards Wednesday’s very possibly ill-judged live episode.
Despite an outcry from long-serving fans about the show’s quality over the past 15 months (the deluge of seriously suspect storylines kicked off with Tina McIntyre’s ridonkulous murder) the Manchester serial about everyday folk has continued to defeat its soap rivals and has consistently taken the day’s number one spot whenever it airs.
In recent months much of the laborious heavy lifting has fallen on the increasingly strained Platt family, who just love to make stupid decisions and seem to be have taken notes from Hollyoaks and got themselves wrapped up in drug dealings, frequent violence and most dangerous of all, a conveyor belt of ‘threatening’ wooden characters.
After impressing fans and critics alike with the show’s 50th anniversary live episode back in 2010, behind the scenes ructions has seen confidence falter, with even more pressure piled on the MediaCity-filmed soap now that even the recent EastEnders Live event managed to exceed expectations.
With Wednesday’s big event promising lots of violence and action, yesterday’s two episodes had to lay a lot of the groundwork as comically manic super intense villain Callum continued to menace the Platts.
7:30pm brought in 7.3 million viewers and a 36% share to ITV, with the second trip to the hazardously urban cobbles netting 7.2 million viewers and a 34% share while it remains to be seen if morbid curiosity from casual viewers will attract a notable audience to this week’s live proceedings.
Beforehand, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) continued to do not quite as well as its older sibling, with the latest drama up Yorkshire way being watched by 6 million viewers and a 33% share.
BBC One’s EastEnders (8pm) came in behind ITV’s flagship soap, with 6.2 million viewers tuning in to see the Mitchell sisters spin their latest trap, resulting in a 29% share.
Somewhere in the 8pm window and dotted around the soaps was the broad-appeal of tea time programming where the informative breeds with the easily digestible.
ITV was at it again with Britain As Seen on ITV (8pm), this time cobbling together clips under the theme The Games People Played. 2.9 million viewers tuned in to see what exactly people did before the internet, resulting in a 14% share.
Taking the wind out of ITV’s sails was BBC One which, along with the help of Panorama (8:30pm), basically concluded that rugby was bad. Rugby and the Brain: Tackling the Truth rained on everyone’s parade and was watched by 1.7 million viewers and an 8% share.
At 8pm Channel 4’s Jamie’s Super Food saw the business magnate continue his selfless quest to promote his brand, resulting in 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share. Afterwards, his mate Jimmy Doherty was also in on the act with Food Unwrapped which was watched by 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share.
[advert position=”left”]In the grand old prime time slot, BBC One continued to poke fun at the slightly sad but filthy rich in the second episode of revealing documentary All Change at Longleat (9pm).
2.8 million viewers tuned in to see the new wife of the heir of the estate attempt to keep herself busy to ward off the dreaded ennui, resulting in a 14% share.
The reality continued elsewhere with The Catch (9pm) on Channel 4 netting 825,000 viewers (a 4% share) while Celebrity Big Brother (9pm) on Channel 5 brought in 1.3 million viewers and a 7% share.
On BBC Two, Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You (9pm) continued to document just how X Files this whole reproduction thing is, resulting in 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share.
But ITV’s run of success continued at 9pm as the third episode of Doc Martin‘s current run easily beat his rivals for the third week in a row. 5.9 million viewers tuned in for last night’s cheerful episode as the doctor moved out of his home because his wife hates him, resulting in a 29% share. Still no Sigourney Weaver.
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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