Return of Death in Paradise secures 9pm slot for BBC One
Thursday night saw the return of BBC One’s sunny murder drama Death in Paradise (BBC One, 9pm) which, alongside ITV’s Midsomer Murders, must surely be the nation’s most popular family-friendly, light-hearted show about violent sociopathic homicide.
The fourth series about the adventures of a bumbling English copper attempting to solve murders on a beautiful Caribbean island continuously invites viewers to picturesque locales and to meet the jolly and kooky locals, all before some innocent gets slaughtered simply for viewers’ entertainment.
The second series to star Kris Marshall (him off that insufferable sitcom, the insufferable Christmas rom-com and those insufferable telecommunications adverts) after former leading man Ben Miller jumped ship (not really, he was stabbed to death with an ice pick) in a surprise scene at the very start of series three, the basic plot remains practically unchanged even with a brand new character taking over.
Last night the biggest audience in the 9pm slot tuned in to see Marshall’s DI Goodman continue to ‘secretly’ pine for his local partner DS Bordey, despite the fact that his longing would be totes obvs to the slowest of procedural TV’s most two-dimensional characters.
In January 2014 7.1 million viewers watched as the third series kicked off with the shocking (but always bizarrely cheerful) death of Miller’s DI Poole, with last night’s opener not doing quite as well.
In total, 6.9 million viewers tuned in to get another taste of sun, sea and tainted semen samples as Kris Marshall attempted to catch a killer with his fish-out-of-water ways. A 30% share tuned in to see the detective continue hide his love away, just like his predecessor.
Meanwhile, the latest questionable reality show to hit our screens kicked off on ITV as Bring Back Borstal (9pm) attempted to right the wrongs of Broken Britain, but presumably left out all the life-damaging mental anguish caused by years of emotional and physical abuse.
2.2 million viewers watched as 13 trouble-makers (who naturally volunteered for the show, immediately negating any point to this ‘social experiment’) were sent to a re-created 1930s borstal in a Northumberland castle to shape up, translating to a 10% share.
Whatever next? A female version from Channel 5 turned into a survival show set in a Magdalene laundry, most probably.
At the same time BBC Two was still attempting to stress viewers out as its Meet The Super Rich season of programming continued. The Super Rich and Us (9pm) simply highlighted that while some people are dirt poor (the ‘us’ of the title, presumably) some people are pretty loaded.
1.4 million viewers allowed their buttons to be pushed, resulting in a 7% share.
On Channel 5, Celebrity Big Brother (9pm) was a thing that continued to happen, capturing the fragile minds of 2.3 million viewers (a 10% share) who felt the need to share their experience with the world.
On a similar note, Channel 4 also featured people sitting around doing nowt with its latest ‘edgy’ documentary. Shut-Ins: Britain’s Fattest People brought in 1.4 million viewers and a 6% share. Straight up afterwards, the vetting process was a little stricter for the 10pm documentary.
Sex Party Secrets was very much in the vein of last year’s Dogging Tales expose, featuring the return of those creepy masks and everything. 1.4 million viewers (a 6% share) watched to learn all the ‘secrets’ of the amorous get togethers, but nothing you couldn’t have guessed anyway.
At 8pm, Would I Lie to You? secured 4.2 million on BBC One, while BBC Two’s doc about damp houses, Somerset: After the Floods, netted 1.6 million viewers.
Over on ITV, the hugely successful renaissance of Birds of a Feather (8pm) continued to nosedive, with a still-okay audience of 3.1 million viewers and a 13% share.
Soap fans where in for a treat yesterday evening as ITV and BBC One offered up a double dollop of hot Emmerdale and EastEnders action, respectively.
Once an East End-trashing powerhouse, it seems Emmerdale (ITV) has skulked back into third place recently, with the episode at 7pm netting just 6 million viewers (a 30% share), while the 8pm helping brought in 5.8 million (a 26% share).
The first episode of EastEnders (BBC One , 7:30pm) became the day’s biggest hit as Ronny Mitchell continued to milk her coma situation by just laying there with 7 million viewers and a 33% share. The second visit to grey and grim Walford at 8:30pm nabbed 6.6 million viewers (a 29% share), putting it in third place behind the altogether more sunny Death in Paradise.
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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