The Fall continues to thrill with 2.2m viewers on BBC Two
Thursday night saw BBC Two’s critically acclaimed sexy-serial killer show The Fall (9pm) up the tension as Gillian Anderson’s DSI Stella Gibson moved closer to catching her man.
The second series of the Northern Ireland-set game of cat and mouse debuted last week with 2.5 million viewers, but yesterday’s helping of chiselled psychopaths and equally aesthetically pleasing detective superintendents saw a slight drop in popularity.
Featuring tense and shocking scenes of schoolgirl abduction and terror, leading man Jamie Dornan’s bereavement counsellor-cum-serial killer is a million miles from his upcoming 50 Shades of Grey persona with last night’s instalment reminding viewers of the feral danger lurking beneath the character’s calm exterior.
The first series wrapped up with an overnight figure of 3.7 million viewers in June last year and, as with nearly all TV shows that are championed passionately, there has been a slow but steady fall in viewers since.
Last night saw 2.2 million viewers tune in to see Stella race against time to save the life of a girl she put in the killer’s line of sight, netting a 9% share and BBC Two’s biggest hit of the day.
As a nice counterpart, BBC One attempted to balance out the corporation’s prime time output with a celebration of life in the latest slice of David Attenborough goodness.
The penultimate episode of Life Story (9pm) focused on the messy details of procreation as viewers were invited to point and laugh at the irrational spectacle of it all. An audience of 2.9 million viewers tuned in to see animals of all shapes and sizes doing their best to score, featuring a deluge of grand gestures and hypnotic dancing.
The technicoloured and bizarre festivity of courtship in the natural world netted a 12% share for the channel.
As an alternative to both of these options, Channel 4’s 9pm offering existed somewhere between life and death as the unfortunate souls to come through the doors of St George’s Hospital were given their chance to shine.
The fifth episode of the newly located series of 24 Hours in A&E treated viewers with seriously light hearted scenes as a 70 year old man had a great old time as a hospital-administered ketamine trip melted away the shoulder-related pain.
1.3 million were watching as his wife was entertained by his existential and hallucinogenic monologues, netting a 6% share.
But of course it was I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! that secured Thursday’s biggest audience as underachieving playboy bunny Kendra joined squeamish Jimmy Bullard to chow down on some deer penis and giant fish eyes.
Yesterday’s drama, which also saw former favourite Craig Charles leave due to a family bereavement, secured a whopping 8.4 million viewers and a 36% share for ITV.
Earlier at 8pm, Watchdog (BBC One) continued to pander to the more outrage-prone demographics while netting 3.8 million viewers. At the same time, the ‘blokey’ architecture fun of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Channel 4) netted 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share.
Earlier in the day, Emmerdale (ITV) secured the third and fourth biggest audience of the day as Aaron and Ross decided to welcome their new Home Farm neighbours with a good old fashioned balaclava-clad raid.
At 7pm, 5.9 million viewers watched as the boys got in way over their heads, netting a 30% share. This fell to 5.7 million an hour later as the boys’ genius plan imploded, resulting in a 28% share.
At 7:30pm on BBC One, EastEnders scored the number two spot as evil Deano came face to face with his old man, with a little help from Mick Carter and a hijacked caravan. 6.5 million viewers tuned in to see the latest development for the messiest family on television, netting a 32% 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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