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Sixties Cilla continues to shine with 5.8m for ITV

Sixties Cilla continues to shine with 5.8m for ITV

Monday night saw Liverpool’s favourite success story continue apace as doe-eyed cheeky hopeful Cilla (ITV, 9pm) got her first taste of success in the second episode of writer Jeff Pope’s odyssey charting Black’s meteoric rise to Saturday night light entertainment.

Usually concentrating on soul-vacating adaptations of real-life home-grown killers (resulting in a BAFTA for See No Evil: The Moors Murders in 2006) Pope’s complete change in direction showcases actress Sheridan Smith’s super enthused energy, with Cilla‘s signature scarlet 60s bob barely standing still for one shot.

As far from a warts-and-all biopic as you can get, last week’s opening episode surprised many by attracting an audience of 6.1 million viewers; less surprising is the news it scored well with older adults.

Last night’s slice of name-dropping (The Beatles haunt proceedings throughout), soap-like morality tests and punchy vocal performances saw viewers fall to 5.8 million, however this was still by far the most popular show in the 9pm slot with a 28% share.

Meanwhile on BBC One, it seems that New Tricks (9pm) may have become a bit too new for its long-standing audience.

Following from last year’s cast cull (actors and writers aren’t BFFs, apparently) the team of retired dusty detectives now features only one original face (Dennis Waterman, who leaves next year), possibly alienating die-hard fans who have been not showing up in the numbers they used to.

Last night’s tale of crusty ex-coppers solving old crimes saw Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Danny once again take centre stage, as a corpse missing a head was discovered at the scene of a Roman battle re-enactment (really).

4.8 million viewers tuned in for the latest mystery in the still-successful show’s eleventh series and, while not the powerhouse it once was, secured a 21% share.

Over on BBC Two was the second and final part of Traders: Millions by the Minute (9pm), a documentary about those who walk among us, risking huge amounts of money on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, most of last night’s subjects simply couldn’t live up to the successful title but remained entertaining nonetheless, securing 1 million viewers and a 5% share.

At the same time, Channel 4 gave viewers and hour and a half of a live magic show, with Derren Brown: Infamous (9pm). 1.3 million viewers tuned in to have their minds blown from the illusionist’s performance from Leeds, resulting in a 7% share.

A little earlier on the same channel, Jamie Oliver continued to take it easy with his latest show, banging out dishes from an easy-to-make, not very healthy menu.

Last night’s Jamie’s Comfort Food (Channel 4, 9pm) attracted an audience of 1.2 million with shots of lamb pies and chicken kievs (with some added non-traditional twists, naturally) securing a 6% share.

Even earlier, the week’s evening entertainment got underway with a slew of soapy drama, with Emmerdale picking up an audience of 6 million viewers and a 33% share at 7pm on ITV.

Straight up afterwards was the first trip of the night to Weatherfield as the good people of Coronation Street decided to be suspiciously sociable for the start of the week.

The day’s biggest audience of 7.2 million viewers (a 36% share) tuned in to see the barely functioning regulars glug back alcohol down the Rover’s Return, just because it was a Monday. The second trip at 8:30pm saw Deirdre Barlow counteract her vat of wine with a nice cup of tea, bringing in 7.1 million viewers and a 33% share.

Over on BBC One, there were plenty of Monday punters down the Queen Vic, as EastEnders (8pm) prepared for the stag do of Walford kingpin Phil Mitchell.

6.6 million viewers cowered in terror as plotting love-rat Phil received an erotic ‘surprise’ from his mistress in passionate garage-set scenes, Shirley Carter. The whole sordid debacle secured a 31% share for BBC One.

The Social TV Analytics report is a daily leaderboard displaying the latest social TV analytics Twitter data from SecondSync. The table shows the top UK TV shows as they are mentioned on Twitter, which MediaTel has correlated with the BARB overnight programme ratings for those shows (only viewable to BARB subscribers).

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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