Pleasant homicide show returns with 4.9m
Two days after BBC One launched a new run of its comically grim crime drama Silent Witness, it was ITV’s turn last night to bring back a long-running sleuthing favourite, although to be fair the relentless slaughtering in Midsomer Murders (8pm) is on a whole other level of silliness.
Like some ungodly hybrid of The Archers, The Wicker Man and every silly regional genre show ever conceived, it has been a very long time since the rural murder show took itself too seriously, inadvertently bringing balance back to a schedule chocked to the brim of try-hard ‘hard-hitting’ cop shows.
Over the many years the commercial broadcaster has been airing tales about the cursed fictional county, Midsomer Murders has constantly thrown up some left-field surprises for fans (amazingly stupid deaths, very surprising cameos from people who should know better and even a trip to Denmark for some Nordic bloody Noir) but at its heart has remained a straightforward whodunit for undemanding audiences.
Yesterday saw the launch of the quaint murder show’s eighteenth series, as DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) returned for a fifth run of connecting the increasingly bizarre dots.
While the leading men and supporting characters may have changed over the years (Barnaby recently got a hip bestubbled sidekick, with the new series featuring the show’s first ever regular Asian character) last night was business as usual for our refreshingly non-tortured copper.
An audience of 4.9 million viewers tuned in to hear the one about the wealthy landowner’s disappearing corpse, with the two hour investigation netting a 21% share.
Elsewhere BBC One offered up another edition of its bizarre experiment Dickensian at 8pm, bringing in 2.7 million viewers and a 12% share.
Afterwards, the second episode of Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough (9pm) invited viewers on another journey through Australia’s beautiful aquatic playground, with 3.2 million viewers and a 14% share tuning in.
On BBC Two, the anxiety-inducing title of Trust Me I’m a Doctor (8pm) saw Michael Mosley and his troupe of smiling TV medics return for a post-Christmas finger wagging session, resulting in 2.4 million viewers and an 11% share.
At 9pm, This World 2015 brought viewers a harrowing account of the first of last year’s terror attacks in Paris in Three Day of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks. The sobering prime time documentary secured 958,000 and a 4% share.
At 8pm, Channel 4’s resident retail wizard was back terrorising high street chains, with the new series of Mary Portas: Secret Shopper bagging 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share.
Afterwards, some lucky children were the focus of real-life horror stories on 24 Hours in A&E (9pm) with the essential sprinkling of warm humanity helping the episode net 1.8 million viewers and an 8% share.
There were more scary doctors on Channel 5 at 8pm, with GPs: Behind Closed Doors bringing in 1 million viewers and a 5% share.
Wednesday’s proper horror story began properly at 9pm, with the first full day of Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 5) highlights providing enough nightmare fuel for all of 2016. The post-launch show secured 2 million viewers and a 9% share, down from 2.7 million viewers on opening night.
At 7pm, Emmerdale (ITV) managed to trump its BBC One rival with 6.6 million viewers and a 32% share while the grim urban decay of EastEnders (8pm) only brought in 6.3 million viewers and a 27% share.
But it was the burgeoning romance between Kevin Webster and Anna Windass that brought Coronation Street (ITV, 7:30pm) Wednesday’s biggest audience, with 7.5 million viewers tuning in for the will they/won’t they/get bloody on with it friendship, resulting in 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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