Sherlock-y Arthur & George proves a prime time hit for ITV
Monday night saw ITV attempt to launch a brand new dramatic franchise by plundering the depths of crime and history to bring viewers Arthur & George (9pm), a show whose main purpose is to allow broadcaster mainstay, Martin Clunes, a chance to enjoy some Edwardian skulduggery and antiquated sleuthing.
Filed firmly under the guilty pleasure folder of shame, the first of three episodes explored how physician and Sherlock Homes author Arthur Conan Doyle and his trusted secretary Watson Alfred Wood investigated a doubtful case of horse mutilation.
As a result Doyle quickly comes into the presence of the eponymous George, an Anglo-Indian solicitor being fingered for all the erroneous equine devastation, with ITV hoping for double act chemistry to rival that of Cumberbatch and Freeman.
Resolutely heading down the Mr Selfridge history route by liberally adding in dramatic events to ensure no one mistakes this for an accurate view of history, the period investigation seemed to be a hit with viewers who easily made it the most watched show in the 9pm slot.
An audience of 5.3 million viewers watched as Clunes’ Doyle set down that typewriter and stethoscope to get his hands grubby in order to grab some of that sweet Sherlock success.
While this triumph might not necessarily guarantee a continuing run of episodes, an audience share of 24% cemented a prime time hit for the commercial broadcaster.
Meanwhile the crime was very real over on BBC One, as the latest Crimewatch (9pm) appeal helped the show top Monday’s TV Twitter chart. An audience of 3.3 million viewers tuned in to hear about a man’s conviction for the murder of a 16 year old schoolgirl in 1993 thanks to a change in the law.
The latest carousel of grim public appeals netted a 15% share for BBC One.
Over on Channel 4, the second part of interactive and factual panic-inducing show NHS: Two Billion Pounds a Week and Counting (9pm) bagged 707,000 viewers and a 3% share, down slightly from last week’s audience of 815,000.
On BBC Two, wandering culinary vagabond Rick Stein continued his adventure on A Cook Abroad‘s trip to Australia, netting an 8% share.
Channel 5 continued to document the dingy existence of welfare enthusiast in the latest of a neverending tirade of Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole (9pm). 1.5 million viewers spent an hour of their time with an English Defence League supporter from Margate, netting a 7% share for the channel.
An hour earlier, Channel 4 was up to some counteractive scaremongering in Britain’s Benefits Crackdown: Channel 4 Dispatches (8pm), which managed 1 million viewers and a 5% share.
At the same time on ITV there were yet More Tales from Northumberland with Robson Green (8pm).
The show, which is kind of like Countryfile but set in a nightmare reality where all the presenters look like Robson Green, took in 2.9 million souls and a 12% share.
Even earlier in the slippery world of soap, Emmerdale secured 6.9 million viewers and a 34% share at 7pm with a particularly un-teatime storyline.
But it was a double heaping of Coronation Street (ITV) that provided Monday’s biggest drama, with the Weatherfield juggernaut crumbling under the weight of a rival’s popularity.
7.7 million viewers and a 36% share tuned in at 7:30pm to see Les Dennis’ fake son get nervous when the real prodigal offspring returned home, with 7.4 million and a 32% share tuning in an hour later.
But it was soap of the moment, EastEnders, that rallied together Monday’s biggest audience as the multiple fallouts from that anniversary week continued. 7.8 million viewers watched to find out that Danny Dyer’s Mick possibly may not have killed Mean Dean, with the blurred storyline netting 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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