Second series of Happy Valley débuts with highest ever audience
One year, eight months and six days after the first series of remarkably well-received Happy Valley (BBC One, 9pm) wrapped up to critical acclaim and impressive ratings, last night finally witnessed the return of the highly anticipated second run.
Coming straight out of the blue back in April 2014, writer Sally Wainwright’s (Last Tango in Halifax, Scott & Bailey, Unforgiven) small Yorkshire town cop drama featured realistically damaged characters and instantly struck a chord with viewers, débuting to an overnight audience of 6.3 million.
[advert position=”left”]Starring Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood, a hard-nosed officer battling with her fair share of demons as well as some bothersome locals, the show brought a refreshingly raw angle to the overpopulated genre of police procedurals and immediately bagged a dedicated audience over its six episode run.
The four middle episodes averaged out at around 5.6 million viewers but the surprisingly hard-hitting tale managed to bring that back up for the final episode, netting 6.2 million viewers – no mean feat for a brand new show.
Yesterday’s return caught up with Catherine and her family 18 months after the traumatic events of series one and it wasn’t long before a seemingly simple case of sheep-napping turned into something far more sinister.
A so-far series-high of 6.5 million viewers tuned in last night for Sally Wainwright’s unique take on small town crime, resulting in a 28% share for BBC One, easily fending off the competition for 9pm glory.
While the third and final episode of BBC Two’s retirement travelogue The Real Marigold Hotel (9pm) didn’t quite escape Happy Valley‘s shadow, it was the second most-watched show in the competitive timeslot.
Opening up with 3 million viewers before growing to 3.2 million for the second outing, the show documented eight long-in-the-tooth celebrities as they acclimatised to India while contemplating retirement plans.
Last night saw the last instalment fall to 2.8 million viewers but still managed to secure BBC Two’s biggest audience of the day.
Doing almost as well was ITV’s latest iteration of Crash, Bang, Wallop: What a Video! at 9pm, with another episode of vehicular calamities on Car Crash Britain: Caught on Camera, which secured 2.3 million viewers and a 10% share.
On Channel 4, a repeat of The Supervet (9pm) saw Dr Noel working his unholy magic on some more decrepit critters, with an audience of 1.4 million viewers and a 6% share tuning in to see fluffy things and feel emotions.
At the same time Channel 5 offered up some anger fuel with some more barrel-scraping output, with The Great British Benefits Handouts (9pm) bagging 987,000 viewers and a 4% share.
At 8pm Holby City bagged 4.5 million viewers on BBC One, while BBC Two’s Back in Time for the Weekend was watched by 2.2 million viewers.
On ITV, the third and final episode of celebrities-toiling-in-a-field-while-getting-dizzy show Sugar Free Farm (8pm) was watched by 2.8 million viewers and a 13% share while Channel 4’s The Secret Life of the Zoo brought in 1.9 million viewers and a 9% share.
Tuesday brought a fairly restrained night of soap, with Emmerdale securing 5.8 million viewers and a 30% share at 7pm on ITV, while BBC One’s EastEnders (7:30pm) was watched by 6.3 million viewers and a 31% 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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