ITV’s Yorkshire cowboy drama Jericho limps out with 2.5m
Thursday night saw nearly all of the main broadcaster’s prime time shows come crashing to an end, with big historical dramas, sunny police procedurals and documentaries (both educational and trashy) wrapping up their current runs.
The biggest player in the 9pm slot was BBC One’s sand-strewn fish-out-of-water drama Death in Paradise, a well-received police procedural about a sacrificial Caribbean island that slaughters at least one guest star per episode.
Yesterday brought the final instalment of the fifth series and saw bumbling English DI Goodman (Kris Marshall) finally create some chemistry with one of those mysterious females, but mostly it was business as usual on murderous Saint Marie.
The biggest prime time audience tuned in to crack the case of an apparent suicide of a young backpacker, although the finale’s victory was slightly hollow.
Not only did last night’s conclusion fail to match this year’s opening audience of 6.8 million viewers, it was actually marginally down (-5%) on last year’s finale. But not to worry slaughter fans, the BBC recently confirmed a sixth series is on its way.
A total of 6.2 million viewers tuned in one last time to watch Goodman easily connect the obvious dots, not even leaving the slowest of viewers behind, resulting in a 28% share for BBC One.
Over on ITV, historical northern yarn Jericho (9pm) also trundled along to a close after eight episodes. The ambitious tale of a 1870s Yorkshire shanty town and its colourful inhabitants opened with just under 3 million viewers at the start of January and while it didn’t exactly set the schedule on fire, the audience has remained solid, if nothing spectacular.
In the unlikely event of a second series, Jericho’s final ever audience was down -16% on the first episode, with 2.5 million viewers tuning in to see if the blasted viaduct would ever get built, resulting in a 12% share.
BBC Two’s The Story of China (9pm) also wrapped up after eight episodes, with the finale of historian Michael Wood’s odyssey looking at the age of revolution, netting 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share.
Less sad was the conclusion of Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons (Channel 5, 9pm), a show premeditated to highlight investigative journalist Paul Connolly’s hard man credentials. An audience of 1 million viewers tuned in to see Paul spend some time in sunny Mexico, with the secrets of El Hongo maximum-security prison netting a 5% share
Even sadder was Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (9pm) which didn’t come to a close but only reached the halfway point of its current run and secured 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share.
At 8pm, Room 101 brought in 3.3 million viewers and a 16% share while Channel 5’s Winter Road Rescue secured 802,000 viewers and a 4% share.
They was a DIY-off between BBC Two and Channel 4 at the same time with the Big Dreams Small Spaces netting 1.6 million and an 8% share while the similarly themed Ugly House to Lovely House with George Clarke bagged 1.8 million viewers and an 8% share.
8:30pm brought another visit from Birds of a Feather to ITV, with 3.3 million viewers and a 15% share tuning in for – you’ve guessed it – the eighth and final episode.
[advert position=”left”]Soap fans were in for a treat last night with not one but two episodes of gritty urban drama EastEnders, as well as gritty rural drama Emmerdale.
ITV’s Yorkshire soap scored the third and fourth spots of the day, with the 7pm trip to Emmerdale bagging 6 million viewers, followed by 5.7 million viewers at 8pm.
The first helping of EastEnders grey-toned gruel at 7:30pm took the number one spot for BBC One, with 6.4 million viewers, falling to 5.5 million viewers at 8:30pm.
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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