Jack Whitehall’s Royal Variety Performance down -19% YoY
Yesterday saw ITV attempt to glam up a fairly gloomy Tuesday evening by gathering together the most mundane and inoffensive acts from across the UK’s entertainment spectrum as comedic authority Jack Whitehall hosted two hour and 40 minutes of lightweight distraction that was The Royal Variety Performance (7:30pm).
For the third consecutive year Her Majesty the Queen had her fill of prancing mutts and decided once again to give the whole shebang a miss, with this year’s burden falling to trending bearded heartthrob Prince Harry.
Featuring the usual mixture of cringy scripted banter between ‘personalities’, performances from a current West End musical and that bloody cheating dog from Britain’s Got Talent, the 90th annual hoo-ha witnessed a -19% fall in live viewers compared to last year.
But just in case the performances from Kylie, Josh Groban, The Corrs and One Direction were a little too rock and roll for royal appointment, a host of limp, safe and suitably numbing comedians were on hand to make jokes about middle aged weight and her indoors.
In total, an audience of 5.3 million viewers tuned in for the welcome early week distraction, resulting in 24% share for ITV and became yesterday’s most tweeted about show.
Over on BBC One, it was time for the third and final part of state-of-the-nation drama Capital (9pm).
Set on a south London street witnessing aggressively rising house prices amongst its mixed demographics, the tale kicked off with each resident receiving a card ominously claiming ‘we want what you have.’
Last night’s conclusion finally revealed the identity of the person behind the campaign, while Toby Jones’ harassed banker finally confronted his issues with aspirational nightmare wife Arabella. The drama opened up to 3.8 million viewers two weeks ago, falling by -13% for last week’s instalment.
The finale managed to capture the exact amount of viewers as last week with 3.3 million and a 15% share tuning in.
On BBC Two it was time to see if The Great Pottery Throw Down‘s (9pm) inaugural series finale could generate Bake Off levels of tensions as the remaining four potters battled it out for clay-based glory at 9pm.
The series opened up with 1.9 million viewers and ten contestants a few weeks back, providing a genuinely shocking amount of innuendos along the way.
Distorted rims, fiddling with rings, serious shrinkage worries and an array of jugs were a few of the issues thrown up in the challenging finale, with a total of 2.1 million viewers tuning in to see a dreadlocked art teacher take home the trophy, resulting in a 10% share.
While this might sound paltry compared to that other show, it’s easy to remember the Bake Off had just as humble beginnings, with the first series opening with 2 million viewers and ending with 2.5 million in late 2010.
On Channel 4, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (9pm) secured 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share while Channel 5’s charming Meet the Psychopaths (9pm) brought in 752,000 viewers and a 3% share.
At 8pm Holby City (BBC One) was watched by 3.9 million viewers (an 18% share) while MasterChef: The Professionals netted 2.6 million viewers (a 12% share).
On Channel 4, the nonsense of Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas (8pm) continued, with 1 million viewers and a 5% share falling into the vortex of faux crafting.
Earlier at 7pm, Emmerdale brought in 5.6 million viewers and a 29% share while BBC One’s EastEnders took Tuesday’s top spot with 5.7 million viewers and a 27% 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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