The Missing continues to thrill while Man City nets 4.3m
The TV viewing nation was given sweet relief from Kendra Wilkinson’s jungle anxiety in I’m a Celebrity…, with ITV replacing the big budget reality mayhem (and most of the evening schedule) with some good old fashioned football.
It was a good job then that the UEFA Champion’s League Live game had as much drama as a night in an ant infested cabin as home team Manchester City faced off against Bayern Munich in an energetic play-off.
With coverage starting from 7:30pm, Adrian Chiles was joined by some available ex-footballers to chit chat and make random predictions about the game ahead. The game actually kicked off at 7:45pm, with fans only waiting 21 minutes to see Sergio Agüero score Man City’s first goal thanks to an opportune penalty.
A total audience of 4.3 million tuned in for the entire coverage which went all the way to 10pm, resulting in an average share of 19%. Surprisingly, just 852,000 of the total average audience were watching the action in shiny HD.
The drama peaked in the 90th minute as Agüero (who scored all of City’s three goals) defeated Bayern Munich in the last possible minute, with the audience peaking at over 5 million viewers early in the second half.
Later at 9pm, BBC One continued to reap success with its tense and taut thriller The Missing as James Nesbitt’s bereft father Tony continued to descend down a morally dubious path as he arrived in Paris to hunt down an old lead.
After last week’s fourth episode witnessed its first drop in viewers due to a clash with an irrelevant England friendly against Scotland, last night’s trip back into the harrowed world of missing children increased on last week’s audience of 5 million.
5.5 million viewers caught up with the latest developments in Tony’s lawless ‘investigation’, netting a 25% share for BBC One and the biggest 9pm audience.
There were some disturbing real-life issues over on Channel 4 at the same time as the broadcaster attempted to convince viewers that it was still ‘edgy’ with another questionable and disturbing voyeuristic documentary.
The Paedophile Next Door (9pm) featured an interview with a man making a startling confession on camera while historian Steve Humphries examined the constant failure to protect the innocent. An audience of 1.3 million viewers tuned in for the difficult programme, resulting in a 6% share.
Wrapping up the night of prime time TV aimed at anxious parents was the final episode of Miracle Babies (9pm) on Channel 5. One of the broadcaster’s more worthy documentaries in recent times, the tough doc features children born with complications and the battle against the odds to save them.
The final episode of the heart-breaking show brought in 927,000 viewers and a 4% share.
Earlier at 8pm, Holby City netted BBC One 4.1 million viewers (an 18% share), while MasterChef: The Professionals was watched by 2.8 million (a 13% share) over on BBC Two.
Over on Channel 4, the mentally delicate stars of Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners (8pm) secured 1.4 million viewers while real life murder exploitation doc The Body in The Lake: Countdown to Murder (8pm) brought in Channel 5’s biggest audience with 951,000 viewers.
Earlier in the day, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) kicked off the day’s slim soap pickings as Debbie Dingle’s latest fella got himself arrested for murder (she has a type). The latest drama from the Dales netted 5.7 million viewers and a 29% share.
Afterwards on BBC One, little Bobby Beale had everyone panicked as he disappeared after he ran away to regenerate again, this time into a fully-fledged graduate of tiny tots drama school.
6.5 million viewers tuned in to the latest episode of EastEnders (7:30pm), with Denise actually digging up some clues about Lucy Beale’s murder, resulting in the day’s biggest hit with 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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