Rob’s murderous confession on Corrrie pulls in 8.1m for ITV
Monday evening brought a deluge of soapy froth and gritty thrillers to the nation’s TV screens, with the prime time festivities kicking off with a (relatively) quiet trip to the peaceful Yorkshire village of Emmerdale (ITV) at 7pm.
The first top-shelf soap of the week eased viewers gently into the drama and didn’t include any elaborate kidnappings or convoluted revenge murders – there wasn’t even an apocalyptic flooding.
Instead, 6.7 million viewers tuned in to ITV to see Ali Spencer learn that she may be pregnant with her ex-husband’s child, resulting in a 33% share.
But it was ITV’s other soap that took Monday’s crown as a double helping of Coronation Street easily took the night’s top two spots.
After five long months of blatant shifty behaviour while sporting that agonisingly obvious look of pure guilt, Rob Donovan finally opened up to his sister Carla about his Tina-dispensing ways. The day’s biggest audience, 8 million viewers, tuned in at 7:30pm for the thirty minutes of sleuthing from Carla, netting a 38% share.
An hour later 7.8 million viewers returned for one of those lengthy claustrophobic scenes full of melted mascara, snotty confessions and northern histrionics as brother and sister faced off.
An audience share of 38% tuned in to see Carla, the Street‘s newly crowned Queen of unmitigated misery, take another emotional bashing.
Coming in right behind ITV’s soaps was a particularly eventful evening on EastEnders (BBC One, 8pm) as worst-son-ever Nick Cotton made a surprise return to the square.
A few months after his dear old ma thought she buried him, the villain who dates all the way back to the first episode made one of those dramatic comebacks, apparently just to mess with his family’s collective head.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as an audience of 6.7 million viewers watched a drunken Sonia Jackson/Fowler make an arse of herself with a new man, resulting in a 30% share.
Back over on ITV, that show that’s not-quite-BBC-One’s-Countryfile brought in its usual sub-Countryfile audience as the completely different Countrywise (ITV) kicked off a new series at 8pm.
An audience of 3.4 million viewers tuned in to see Irish presenter Liz Bonnin turn her back on her BBC chums and hang out with a load of kids who were mad about nature, netting a 15% share.
At 9pm, ITV rolled out the fourth episode of the fairly successful period crime drama Grantchester.
For the second time since its début four weeks ago, the vicar/copper combo managed to secure the 9pm slot, made all the easier last night by the absence of BBC One’s New Tricks.
4.6 million viewers (a 22% share) watched as James Norton’s daring vicar saved a young lady from a house fire, while generally solving twee crimes in between giving sermons and pining for obviously suspicious beauties.
Unfortunately on BBC One, things were a bit more real and harrowing as documentary-maker Henry Singer delved into the harrowing tale of Baby P: The Untold Story (9pm). 2.4 million viewers (11%) tuned in for the difficult 90 minute look at the death of the 17 month year old, featuring interviews with all the officials who were dragged into the storm of outrage.
On Channel 4, it was time for 24 Hours in Police Custody to draw to a close after eight episodes. Running through the exact same format as every other Channel 4 documentary these days, the fixed-rig set-up in a police station allowed for some eye-opening sights.
1.6 million viewers caught up with the latest characters to be dragged through the Bedfordshire police station, with a 7% share lapping up the worst advertisement for Luton, ever.
On Channel 5, 1.4 million viewers tuned in to see Oswald Cobblepot return to the broken city of Gotham (9pm) despite some stern warnings from Jim Gordon.
BBC America’s latest venture, Intruders, débuted on BBC Two at 9pm with John Simm’s American accent securing 951,000 viewers, while the second episode at 10pm saw the audience fall to 701,000.
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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