Poldark continues to win Sunday night’s period drama race
Sunday evening saw viewers turn to BBC One in droves as the guilty pleasure of Poldark once again proved a 9pm hit for the broadcaster, with the end-of-weekend comfort hug of period romance and over worked torsos proving as popular as ever.
Four weeks on and the new-and-improved, brooding, war-scarred, been-to-the-gym variety of Ross Poldark continued to erase all memories of the 1975 version, easily winning over Sunday night’s matinée-starved audience.
Yesterday’s adventures in impressive Cornish backdrops and daytime soap-style glances saw bunny-boiler kitchen maid Demelza finally bag her man after weeks of dressing up in his ex’s clothes, eavesdropping and slyly getting a good look at her half-naked employer any chance she got.
After the opening episode pulled 6.9 million viewers into its strong currents, the drama slowly fell to 6.2 million viewers for last week’s instalment, in which Demelza and Poldark finally got it on.
Last night’s slice of corned ham secured an audience of 6.3 million viewers, proving to be the day’s biggest hit. An audience share of 27% tuned in to see how Poldark and the new missus were surviving the honeymoon period and disdained glances from the locals, helping the show to top the Twitter TV chart.
Over on ITV, there was also some olde time histrionics on offer as the grand finale of Mr Selfridge (9pm) marked the beginning of the end for the period retail drama.
While the tale of the brash American in London had been hit hard in the ratings war over the current run, ITV recently announced that a fourth series was definitely on the way despite the drama running its natural course.
Going up against Call the Midwife saw series three’s first episode fall by over a million viewers year on year, with the following episodes detailing the shopping magnate’s real life fall into poverty.
Surprisingly, last night’s finale managed to hold on to the exact same audience that first tuned in ten weeks previously, with 3.4 million viewers watching as Harry Selfridge’s fate was set in a card game, resulting in a 15% share.
The dramatic reinterpretation of the past was also of concern to Channel 4, as Indian Summers (9pm) edged ever closer to the end of its ten week run. Proving not very popular with Sunday audience’s (perhaps it’s more of an All 4 thing), yesterday’s episode of balmy forbidden love was watched by 899,000 viewers and a 4% share.
Meanwhile, BBC Two offered a terrifying detour into the world of reality with the second half of quality weekend comedown material Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity (9pm). No less traumatising than last week, the concluding part of Louis’ latest ‘kooky’ documentary saw the offbeat reporter continue to speak to the criminally insane – netting 2 million viewers and a 8% share.
At the same time Channel 5 offered up a film in the form of ‘cult hit’ Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (9pm) which brought in 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
Earlier on BBC One, Countryfile (7pm) and Antiques Roadshow (8pm) continued to fly the flag for the civilised world, securing 5.8 million viewers and 4.7 million viewers, respectively.
On BBC Two, very well spoken and polite young man Simon Reeves was half way through his nice-work-if-you-can-get-it trip around the Atlantic Ocean’s tropical islands, islets, reefs, and cays. Caribbean with Simon Reeve (8pm) provided the perfect Sunday night escapism and secured 5.6 million viewers and an 11% share.
At the same time Channel 4 was also offering up a little water-based escape of its own, although Great Canal Journeys (8pm) was certainly less exotic and definitely a lot more weathered. The penultimate episode of the four-part series saw Prunella Scales and EastEnders‘ cranky patriarch Timothy West head to the waterways of Southern France for another gentle meander.
An audience of 1.2 million watched as Sybil Fawlty and Stan Carter tucked into a sheep’s brain halfway through, resulting in a 5% share.
On ITV, confused Weatherfield devotes were scrambling to deal with the latest difficult schedule changes to befall them and attempted to enjoy an hour of Coronation Street (8pm) on a Sunday evening (a clear indicator of broken Britain if there ever was one).
The day’s second biggest audience watched as the latest little Madame to hit the cobbles, Bethany Platt, caused even more trouble, securing over 6 million viewers and a 26% 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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