ITV’s period mystery Arthur & George wraps up with 3.3m
The start of a fresh new week of TV brought an end to ITV’s latest crime drama, as credibility-stretching Arthur and George‘s (9pm) time on our screens wrapped up after a swift three-week run.
The kind-of true life tale dramatised a time in Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle’s life when he tried to clear the name of Anglo-Indian George Edalji, an innocent man whose life was destroyed after being framed as the Wyrley Ripper.
An impressive opening audience of 5.3 million viewers tuned in to see Martin Clunes’ Conan Doyle dust off his magnifying glass as he delved into a spot of Sherlock-inspired sleuthing but the period crime thriller fell by a very dramatic -41%, down to 3.1 million, for last week’s second episode.
Yesterday’s conclusion did see a small reversal of fortune, with the Edwardian version of Law & Order somehow managing to secure the 9pm slot for the first time since its début, despite having a significantly lower audience.
Intent on not overstaying its welcome, the third and final trip into the physician and author’s obsessive but fair mind brought in an audience of 3.3 million viewers and a 16% share.
Meanwhile, in a completely different universe Channel 4 launched its latest factual show, aiming to educate and entertain and outrage in equal measures. In a frantic attempt to match the volume of Channel 5’s quality welfare-based output, last night saw the ‘edgy’ broadcaster launch the first part of the new three part series, (9pm).
Similar to every other benefits-based show to air in the past two years (except the twist here being that the viewers saw very little of the dependants, just their grim domestic squalor) Britain’s Benefit Tenants documented the worrying rise of rent arrears in the private market.
The depressing tale of an overcrowded and broken social housing system took in 2.4 million and an 11% share, resulting in Channel 4’s biggest hit of the day.
Over on Channel 5, the new spiritual home of exploitative benefits programming, the broadcaster offered up an extra-large view of society gone drastically wrong, although thankfully in a fictional setting.
Returning from a mid-season break (which is all the rage now in the States) was the turbulent city of Gotham (9pm). And, no – Batman still wasn’t a thing.
An average audience of 915,000 viewers and a 5% share tuned in to see James Gordon get demoted and work as a guard at Arkham Asylum, providing plenty of opportunity to hint about all the comic book fun that might possibly come at some point without actually providing any.
At the same time BBC Two served up the unappetising-sounding Kew on a Plate (9pm), the first of four shows presented by Raymond Blanc and Kate Humble which had something do with growing magical royal vegetables or something.
1.7 million viewers and an 8% share tuned in to watched vegetables grow.
BBC One’s evening was taken up with Match of the Day Live (7:30pm) with the game between Reading and Bradford City bringing in 2.9 million and a 13% share.
Over on FOX, The Walking Dead (9pm) continued to make grown men despair as more survivors met their sorry ends in an increasingly sad and almost inconsequential fashion. The most nihilistic show on TV (yep, worse than main cast-slaughtering Game of Thrones) netted 549,000 viewers and a 3% share.
The latest round of sadistic slaughter also helped The Walking Dead top the TV Twitter chart, with the show sparking outrage and emotional exhaustion among its fans.
At 10pm, Channel 4 launched an adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s Raised by Wolves which netted an impressive 1.3 million viewers and an 8% share, already doing better than recent prime time dramas like Cucumber.
Earlier, an hour and a half of soapy goodness was kicked off by Emmerdale at 7pm, with 6.3 million viewers and a 32% share taking a trip to the UK’s most dangerous village community.
But it was double Coronation Street that bagged the top spots, with the earlier episode at 7:30pm securing 7.5 million viewers and a 36% share. This fell to 6.4 million at 8:30pm as cheeky cherub grown-up Chesney made a huge decision about his parental responsibilities, resulting in a 28% 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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