ITV’s Sunday dramas give BBC One’s Undercover some competition
This weekend saw schlocky gimmicks and a stunt wedding help Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV, 7pm) reign supreme over its light entertainment competitors.
The pint-sized duo broadcast their popular show live from a docked cruise liner in Barcelona, for no fathomable reason besides dishing viewers more advertising outside of the frequent breaks, with a few on-air mishaps adding to the frenzied fun.
Despite guest announcer James Nesbitt going missing halfway through the show – or perhaps because of the sudden disappearance – the seventh and final episode of the lads’ 13th series brought in 5.7 million viewers to ITV.
Not only did the hour and a half show feature a real on-board wedding and reveal who actually shot Simon Cowell, it also took in the day’s biggest audience with a 29% share.
Over on BBC One, the broadcaster’s last series of The Voice UK (7pm) carried on towards the end with the over-dramatised events of the semi-final treating viewers to an uninterrupted two hours and five minutes of contrived decision-making and achingly OTT performances.
4.5 million viewers tuned in to see Ricky, Boy George, will.i.am and that other clown dramatically lose one act each, with the prolonged promotional piece for next week’s finale securing a 23% share.
The only other real contender of the day was BBC One’s never-ending medical drama Casualty at 9:05pm which brought another stunt episode in which the staff of Holby City’s emergency department were mainly saving each other.
The traditional slice of Saturday night drama brought in 4.6 million viewers and a 24% share.
Speaking of schedule stalwarts, Sunday saw the unstoppable draw of BBC One’s Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow continue its hold on the British public.
At 7pm, the rural magazine show dedicated its entire episode to grass and climate botherers, cows.
The weekend’s biggest audience watched as Matt Baker chatted with a farmer about the beef trade, while Charlotte Smith excitedly weighed up the pros and cons of indoor dairy heards, resulting in 6.3 million viewers and a 33% share.
Afterwards, Fiona Bruce braved some more everyday folk as the presenter and her crack team of antiques seekers visited Harrogate. The latest round of getting guests’ hopes up before dashing them brought in 5.2 million viewers and a 24% share.
Later on, Sunday’s schedule was awash with new and returning drama, kicking off with ye olden day strong lady drama The Durrells on ITV at 8pm.
An impressive 6.1 million viewers tuned in to the 1930s-set series that saw a chaotic family swap Bournemouth for Corfu, with the first part of six episodes netting a 28% share.
Straight up afterwards was the return of nostalgic WI drama, Home Fires (ITV, 9pm), which is kind of like Call the Midwife but mostly without the blood and screaming. The tale of a picturesque middle English village and its inhabitants of abandoned housewives saw 4.8 million viewers tune in for its return, resulting in a 24% share.
Filling the Tom Hiddleston bum-shaped hole in BBC One’s Sunday schedule was brand new thriller, Undercover (9pm), starring Sophie Okonedo. The drama, about a lawyer, her husband and their mountain of secrets, got off to a great start with 5.2 million viewers and a 24% share tuning in.
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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