James Hill’s Celebrity Big Brother ‘victory’ brings in 1.7m
Thursday night’s TV brought more Rugby World Cup (7:30pm) action to the masses as ITV’s evening schedule was handed over to the latest Pool C game, live from London’s Olympic Stadium, as New Zealand clashed with Namibia.
After half an hour of pre-game natter between presenter Craig Doyle and guests, the match finally got under way at 8pm with New Zealand wasting no time putting the fear into their opponents.
An average audience of a little over 3 million viewers tuned in for the entire event, resulting in a 16% share for ITV, with the game peaking at 3.7 million viewers half an hour after kick off.
A bit later, there was another fiercely fought battle under way as the winning ‘personalities’ of Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 5, 9pm) attempted to outshine one another through the medium of drunken breakdowns and psychological episodes in the form of vile verbal attacks.
Last night’s grand finale represented the ninth series of the celebrity version to air on Channel 5 in the past four years, not including the standard pleb version, and while the ratings mightn’t be what they once were, the franchise has proved a steady performer for the broadcaster.
Yesterday saw 1.7 million viewers – slightly above its nightly average – tune in to see The Apprentice’s James Hill take all the glory and be crowned the least most awful person in the house, netting a 9% share.
Meanwhile BBC One managed to break its hardened security correspondent, Frank Gardner, to tears on the latest trip down memory lane on Who Do You Think You Are? (9pm). 4.1 million viewers, the biggest audience in its timeslot, tuned in to see Gardner discover sad family tales dotted throughout history, resulting in a 21% share.
At the same time, Channel 4 continued on with its contrived, full-on silly chase show Hunted (9pm), not helped by the fact that the senseless format takes itself super seriously.
1.2 million viewers watched as the latest contestants spoke to their smartphone cameras in really grave tones because they were being ‘hunted’ down by a production team, netting a 6% share in the process.
BBC Two’s Thursday night comedy hour continued at 9pm with retro family sitcom Cradle to Grave (9pm) securing 1.6 million viewers and an 8% share, while a disastrous end to a romantic evening on Boy Meets Girl (9:30pm) was watched by 960,000 viewers and a 5% share.
Earlier at 8pm, condescending consumption show Eat Well for Less? (BBC One) was watched by 4.6 million viewers and a 24% share while World’s Weirdest Events (BBC Two) pulled in 1.5 million viewers and an 8% share.
On Channel 4, normal northern architect, George Clarke, continued to pump out his every man shtick, marvelling at tarted up sheds on the latest George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, which brought in 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.
If all the alternatives seemed a bit too high brow, Channel 5 provided the perfect 8pm escape with Dogs Make You Laugh Out Loud (basically You’ve Been Framed for the connected generation).
An audience of 802,000 and a 4% share tuned in to watch badly captured smartphone footage of dogs doing dog-related things.
Earlier in the day Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) took the day’s second place, as the never ending tale of horrible country-dwelling plotters took in 5.2 million viewers and a 30% share.
But it was the prodigal return of Walford’s favourite son, Robbie Jackson, that secured Thursday’s top spot.
Sadly happy reunions don’t really last long on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) and it wasn’t long before the professional Wellard-wielder was nicking notes from Sonia’s purse, with the latest drama securing 6.2 million viewers and a 34% share for BBC One.
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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