Lack of competition sees BBC’s The Apprentice back on top
Wednesday night saw BBC One’s panicked blagging show The Apprentice (9pm) reclaim some of its lost strength after three long weeks of being continuously battered by ITV’s I’m a Celebrity…, with last week seeing its audience fall to a series low of 4.8 million.
Last night finally brought a safe reprieve for BBC’s long-running backstabbing business show, just in time to reclaim the crown before the tenth series wraps up in four short weeks.
Last night’s adventure in overconfidence and panic attacks saw the two teams tasked with taking a bite out of the multimillion pound luxury dessert industry, setting up a number of buzzword-spouting dullards for a sweet, sweet fall.
Scenes of Australian candidate Mark Wright (pictured right) losing it during his big pitch to Tesco saw the audience crawl back up to 5.5 million viewers, with a 24% audience share helping The Apprentice secure the 9pm slot.
Meanwhile in the unpredictable world of commercial television, after its recent and all-consuming sojourn into reality TV, ITV went all highbrow with its new feature length two-part drama about media intrusion.
The first hour and a half episode of The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (ITV, 9pm) looked at the events of 2010 when a retired teacher’s life was turned upside down when his tenant was murdered, bringing the UK’s media to his doorstep.
Guilty of simply having a mad haircut, the drama focused on the devastating results of the tabloid accusations, netting a little over 3 million viewers and a 14% share.
On Channel 4, there was some manly outdoor cross promotional fun as the reigning king of macho posing and Zoolander decided to spend a weekend snuggled up in the woods together. Bear’s Wild Weekend with Ben Stiller (9pm) was watched by an audience of 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share, resulting in Channel 4’s biggest hit of the day.
At the same time on Channel 5 was the continuing depressing drudgery of Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole, (9pm) proving the UK’s TV audience has clearly not had enough of watching desperately poor people as a form of entertainment.
1.2 million viewers tuned in to see the special episode focusing on immigrants sending benefits back home to pay for domestic renovations, netting a 5% share.
Meanwhile in the dark wastelands of ITV 2, viewers finally got their chance to set their eyes on Joey Essex’s eagerly awaited Christmas special.
Educating Joey Essex: Winter Essex-Pedition (9pm), a show that finally has a title as moronic as its star, saw the former TOWIE mannequin once again feigning oxygen-deprived stupidity – but this time in a Santa hat. 175,000 viewers (a 1% share) decided to spend their night this way.
While the audience was pretty low, it did manage to be the third most tweeted about show of the day, proving Joey’s minuscule fan base are an engaged bunch, if nothing else.
Earlier at 8pm, the final series of the once extremely popular school drama, Waterloo Road, was watched by 2.7 million viewers and a 12% share.
On Channel 4, the highly questionable ‘reality’ of Posh Pawn (8pm) netted 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
While the show has been off the air for four whole days, 8pm saw ITV offer fans on their jungle reality show a chance to catch up with drama of its extremely successful Australian jungle show.
The interestingly titled I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Coming Out followed the survivors’ traumatic stories after being deprived from their loved ones for a handful of days.
A series-low audience of 5.4 million viewers watched as Kendra entered her reality TV comfort zone, securing a 24% share.
Earlier on ITV, Belle Dingle’s mental health problems escalated as she continued to hear the voice of her dead BFF in Emmerdale (7pm). The day’s second biggest audience tuned in to see the young killer get caught chatting to her deceased mate’s grave, netting a 32% share.
Straight afterwards, Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) came along to steal Wednesday’s crown as general hate figure Sean Tully finally got a shot at love. 7.2 million viewers tuned in to see the knicker stitcher and pint dispenser get wined and dined by a vicar, netting a 34% 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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