Strictly’s head kicking fun sets it ahead of The X Factor
Friday night saw EastEnders become the most watched TV show of the day after another doomed Walford wedding ended in bloodshed at 8pm.
BBC One’s troubled/reinvigorated soap (it’s sometimes hard to keep track of the critics’ current narrative) saw Phil Mitchell end up with a bullet in his gut after witnessing his new bride and weathered mistress energetically wrestle for control of a gun and the E20 bruiser’s heart.
An audience of 7.1 million viewers tuned in to see the acting go in to overdrive as the smooth-headed kingpin’s life was in danger, with the small chance of Phil Mitchell shuffling his mortal coil enough to pull in a 34% share.
Later on Channel 4, the second episode of Gogglebox‘s (9pm) fourth series run improved on last week’s debut by a quarter of a million viewers. In total 2.1 million viewers tuned in to watch random British families accurately represent the nation’s various TV-watching demographics, resulting in a 10% share.
Over on ITV, Friday’s slice of The X Factor (9pm) heralded the halfway point of the eleventh series, giving hope to millions of exhausted fans of big budget karaoke. This Friday found the mentally fragile contestants bundled off to different corners of the world to visit the judges’ houses in order to sway their fates.
5.8 million viewers tuned in to see that Mel B apparently lives in a mediocre hotel resort in Cancun, resulting in a 27% share. Although it would be an exaggeration to say that the new Friday night episode is under performing, it certainly isn’t hitting the heights seen by the identical episodes on Saturday and Sunday.
While The X Factor‘s earlier 8pm performance on Saturday certainly saw an improvement, the tears and forced drama was over shadowed by the BBC’s sequinned secret weapon. 6.8 million viewers watched Baby and Scary Spice sit in the Mexican wind, attempting to over emote about their decisions, netting a 30% share.
But by that time the weekend’s first episode of Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One, 6:20pm) had already stolen away the day’s biggest audience. A total of 8.8 million viewers tuned in for over two hours of wholesome fox trotting fun.
EastEnders‘ Jake Wood surprised many with his energetic routine, putting partner Janette Manrara’s head in a precarious situation, resulting in a 42% share.
Straight up afterwards The Doctor picked up a companion even more impractical than Clara and headed for the moon in another slightly demented episode of Doctor Who (BBC One, 8:30pm). 4.8 million viewers watched this week’s adventure, titled Kill the Moon, down from Capaldi’s first proper debut that brought in 6.8 million in late August.
BBC One’s impressive run continued afterwards with the latest from the 29th series of Casualty at 9:15pm, securing a 24% share with 4.7 million viewers.
Over on ITV, Keith Lemmon was busy poking himself Through the Keyhole (9pm), with the interesting interactions between panellists Carol Vorderman and Joey Essex bringing in 3.6 million viewers.
The next day BBC One’s Formula 1: The Japanese Grand Prix coverage got underway at 1:15pm, with Jules Bianchi’s tragic accident helping to pull in 2.2 million viewers and a 21% share.
At 6:15pm, Sunday schedule mainstay Countryfile (BBC One) was watched by 6.3 million viewers, with the announcement of the photography competition grabbing a 33% share.
The Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) results at 7:15pm secured Sunday’s biggest audience by capturing 8.8 million viewers, the exact same as Saturday night’s edition, but the share was down to 38%.
Immediately afterwards on ITV, The X Factor (8pm) brought in an impressive 8.5 million viewers (a 34% share) as the producers decided to mix things up by giving a particularly vulnerable contestant a full-on panic attack.
At 9pm, Downton Abbey‘s (ITV) scandalous fifth series continued as Lady Mary swanned about the place, regretting her rompy pompy session, while her mother, the Countess of Grantham, invited scandal into her marriage by going for dinner with a male who wasn’t her boring husband (but it was boring old Richard E Grant, so whatever).
7.5 million viewers watched in horror, no doubt fanning relentlessly to fight off the shock-induced dizziness, resulting in a 32% share and the 9pm slot’s biggest audience.
On the other side, Our Girl (BBC One, 9pm) Lacey Turner was back in merry old England, as Molly and Iwan Rheon’s Smurf were being treated to shore leave only after two episodes in the desert. 3.6 million viewers caught up with the calm recovery period before the frantic fighting once again kicked off, resulting in a15% share.
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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