Mystery Map somehow brings in 3.2 million for ITV
Wednesday night brought the return of ITV’s latest presenting odd couple as Countryfile‘s Julia Bradbury and general ITV mainstay Ben Sheppard revved up the Mystery Machine and hit the road for the second and, tragically, final part of the show that aims to uncover the truth behind shadowy and intriguing events around the UK.
After failing to uncover anything of note last week (brave Ben took supernatural spectres head on, while intrepid Julia stared at a statue hoping it would move), the grand finale of Mystery Map (ITV) saw Mulder and Scully investigate ‘spooky’ footprints in Devon and a wild cat that terrorised Cornwall. The hour of schedule-filling, easy-to-digest nonsense won over an impressive 3.2 million viewers (down from the first part’s 3.9 million) and a 15% share.
Meanwhile on BBC Two, things were heating up in MasterChef: The Professionals (8pm) as four contestants battled it out for a place in the quarter final, all under the watchful eye of Gregg Wallace and that chef who likes Albert Bartlett potatoes so much he’s fronting their latest campaign.
Another Countryfile accomplice was also trying to break free over on BBC One as Adam Henson and companion Nigel Slater once again invited viewers into their twee agricultural wonderland. The second episode of Nigel and Adam’s Farm Kitchen (8pm) saw a significant fall week on week, dropping from 4.6 million to last night’s 3.7 million viewers.
An audience share of 17% made sure that despite the slight drop in popularity, Nigel and Adam’s sermons on the importance of seasonal eating secured the biggest audience in the 8pm slot.
A little earlier at 7pm, Emmerdale (ITV) performed to its usual standard – netting the day’s third biggest audience with the expert mixture of glamour and soggy wellies they’ve perfected so well. The latest drama netted 6.9 million viewers and a 34% share.
Straight afterwards on Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm), foreshadowing was the name of the game as Peter Barlow and Tina McIntyre pretty much made it obvious to anyone living in their postcode that an adulterous affair was more than likely brewing.
8.4 million viewers watched as the barmaid and professional rapscallion eyed each other as if subtlety was some kind of new brew and not an approach they desperately needed to be introduced to. The outrageous bouts of flirting were watched by Wednesday’s second biggest audience and a 38% share.
The 9pm slot was, of course, dominated by rumbles in the jungle as Westlife’s Kian Egan proved his worth on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me of Here! Last night’s task saw the Irish purveyor of scientifically-designed bland music being asked to capture as many stars as possible in an underground maze. And by stars, they meant golden plastic effigies – there are definitely no real stars around those parts.
An audience of 8.7 million viewers ensured that the reality show took Wednesday’s number one position, resulting in a 38% share.
BBC One once again fired out a repeat of New Tricks (9pm) in a desperate attempt to clamour back some kind of prime time audience. The episode – originally broadcast in 2010 – saw the team reopen the case about a London criminal’s murder and managed to attract 2.9 million viewers and a 12% share.
24 Hours in A&E (Channel 4) offered up another slice of close-to-the-bone emotional observations in the wards of King’s College Hospital at 9pm. 1.3 million viewers watched another hour of trauma and heartbreak, bringing in a 6% share.
An hour later on Comedy Central, the 17th series of South Park (10pm) continued as the impending Black Friday and launch of the Console Wars continued to tear the quite mountain town in half.
The difficult choice between supporting the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 gave Trey Parker and Matt Stone ample excuse to go down the Game of Thrones satire route, including Cartman’s unstable allegiance with a power-crazed Bill Gates. 67,000 tuned in to see friend turn against friend in a bitter battle to secure some impressive Christmas deals, netting a 0.3% share.
Elsewhere, Gogglebox (Channel 4, 10pm) continued to attract a steady audience and some social media buzz. Last night 1.2 million viewers tuned in to catch the families’ latest cutting televisual opinions, generating 24,386 tweets throughout the broadcast.
The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).
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.