ITV’s The Secret Life of Twins nabs 9pm slot with just 2.3m
After exploring the lives of domestic cats, dogs, and human babies, ITV’s premier prime time pseudo-science show was back – this time unveiling the secretive and guarded world of identical twins.
Kind of like one of those topical, yet light and breezy, and semi-educational shows that BBC One excels in, The Secret Life of Twins (ITV, 9pm) promised to leave no question unanswered as viewers were invited to watch lots of ‘scientific’ footage of siblings doing things in slow motion.
As usual, the calming, informal and informative dulcet tones of Martin Clunes were on hand to guide viewers through the schedule-filling fun with the audience treated to lots of shots of matching newborns and awkward-looking grown-ups.
Most surprisingly though, the draw of the scientific research was too hard for viewers to resist and resulted in the show bagging the 9pm slot, with an audience of 2.3 million viewers proving enough for ITV to beat its competitors.
Over on BBC One, failing supercop ‘drama’ The Interceptor (9pm) trundled on, with the latest exercise in missing-the-mark featuring 100% more Ralph Little. The bizarre action show opened up with 3.7 million viewers at the start of June but in the following six weeks managed to shed -40% of that audience, mainly thanks to hokey dialogue, dodgy acting, silly stories and general silliness.
Coming across like a Saturday morning cartoon show that’s attempting to be brooding and tough, the latest hour in the company of The Unit and its ‘haunted’ and emotional scarred officers secured just 2.2 million viewers and a 12% share.
At the same time BBC Two was busy getting its hands dirty by digging up the past in the Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners (9pm) as historian David Olusoga rooted through the archives for some dirt. 1.6 million viewers tuned in for the first half of historic shaming, netting an 8% share.
On Channel 4, the latest series of 24 Hours in A&E (9pm) wrapped up with 2.2 million viewers and an 11% share, while things weren’t any cheerier on Channel 5 as Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords netted 1.3 million viewers and a 7% share.
Over on ITV2, Love Island: Live Final (9pm) pulled in a whopping audience of 684,000 and a 4% share and managed to top the Twitter TV chart.
At 8pm, BBC One’s Don’t Tell The Bride was watched by 2.5 million viewers, while BBC Two’s Trust Me, I’m a Doctor bagged 2 million viewers and an 11% share.
Over on ITV, something mental called 100-Year-Old Drivers Ride Again secured 3.4 million viewers and a 19% share while The Autistic Gardener brought in 873,000 viewers.
Self-explanatory Channel 5 show Sick Note Skivers Exposed (8pm) was watched by 1.1 million viewers and a 6% share.
Wednesday’s soaps took the top two spots as the charming rural ideal of Emmerdale (7pm) brought in 5.1 million viewers to ITV, resulting in a 32% share.
Taking the number one spot though was Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) as prodigal son Peter Barlow finally returned after missing Deirdre’s funeral.
An audience of 6.5 million viewers watched as Tracey, Ken and Peter verbally tore each other to shreds while everyone else was getting nice and merry at the wake in the Rovers, resulting in a 37% 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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