Jimmy McGovern’s Banished secures a 9pm triumph for BBC Two
Last night BBC Two welcomed screenwriter Jimmy McGovern back to the TV fold with daring new historical romp Banished (9pm), a gritty drama soaked in the writer’s trademark passion for unsubtle social commentary.
Focusing on the very early – and turbulent – days of the first British penal colony in Australia, the setting of the seven-part drama seemed ripe for the legendary writer’s particular brand of bleak sentiment.
Viewers were in for quite a surprise, then, to discover the first slice of promised antipodean injustice focused heavily on all the soppy stuff, with events gravitating around a love triangle between a busty East End street urchin, Russell Tovey, and that foppish doctor from Green Wing.
3.4 million viewers tuned in to see the latest original drama from the man responsible for Brookside‘s glory days, Cracker, Priest and The Accused, securing an impressive 16% share for BBC Two.
Taking a its lead from the phenomenally successful début of Wolf Hall back in January, the first episode of Banished saw BBC Two attract the biggest 9pm audience, easily beating ITV’s lacklustre offering for prime time glory.
The commercial broadcaster’s big proposition of the night, saw ITV seemingly just throw in the towel and lazily pump out an hour and a half of talking heads and groovy beats as the viewing nation finally got to find out The Nation’s Favourite 70s Number One (8:30pm).
2.9 million viewers caught up with glamour pusses Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and ,eh, Art Garfunkel as they reminisced about the hazy days of disco, resulting in a 14% share.
On BBC One, the light hearted sequinned fun on The People’s Strictly for Comic Relief (9pm) continued with its penultimate third episode. 3 million viewers tuned in to see the norms foxtrot with the spray-tanned and famous, translating to a tidy and a perfunctory 15% share.
Also hurtling towards its grand finale was Channel 4’s underperforming tale of men navigating the wastelands of middle-aged gay life in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber (9pm).
After last week’s shocking turn of events, the penultimate trip to Manchester saw main antagonist Henry Best seek out some violent retribution. An audience of 648,000 watched as Henry realised his house sharing mid-life crisis couldn’t last forever, netting a 3% share.
At the same time on Channel 5, the broadcaster’s attempt at catching some of Channel 4’s Educating… lightening in a bottle, Britain’s Biggest Primary School (9pm), came to an end. 571,000 tuned in to see the claustrophobic tiny tots education being further disrupted by a camera crew, resulting in a 3% share.
Earlier at 8pm, Nick Knowles waved his magic wand across a stranger’s living room for the final time in a repeat of DIY SOS: The Big Build (BBC One). The last act of tasteless goodwill for the twenty third (!) series secured 3.6 million viewers and a 17% share.
On BBC Two, it was time for the semi-final of The Great British Sewing Bee (8pm) as the five nervy finalist were tasked with working with stain and leather, with 3 million viewers tuning in to see the sewers spit out more ‘interesting’ creations, resulting in a 14% share.
Speaking of botched creations, The Supervet was back on channel 4 at 8pm for a brand new series of pet augmentation fun. 1.5 million viewers watched as Noel Fitzpatrick hacked away at a few more puppies, netting a 7% share.
Emmerdale brought in the day’s second and fourth biggest audience to ITV, with 5.8 million viewers and 5.4 million viewers at 7pm and 8pm respectively.
Yet again, BBC One soap EastEnders walked away with Thursday’s number one spot as viewers finally got some answers about why Richard Blackwood has been hanging about in the background stinking up the place.
An audience share of 34% watched as Kim and Kat broke into the Vic after hours to nick some booze, only for all of Kim’s baby daddy issues to come flooding out. 6.8 million fickle soap fans helped the soap hit the top spot, continuing on from the post-30th love affair with gritty drama.
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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