Third X Factor of the weekend eats up Sunday competition
The past weekend’s schedule saw Friday night being swallowed up by Saturday night entertainment as the ever-bothersome judgement-spouting show The X Factor decided to air not one but three episodes over the weekend.
Not content with infecting the Saturday and Sunday night schedules with its fabricated brand of easy fame, Friday night saw ITV give the public exactly what they wanted.
An audience share of 23% watched as Simon, Louis, Cheryl and Scary milked the drama for every minuscule drop, asking some more mentally fragile hopefuls to jump through more emotionally-scarring hoops than ever before.
Friday’s extra helping of The X Factor saw the audience plummet to (a relatively small) 5.3 million viewers, indicating that the loyal audience are willing to watch just anything the show rolls out, even the exciting musical chairs stage.
If that wasn’t bad enough, and after weeks of build-up it was finally time for BBC One to roll out its defensive capabilities to fend off its greatest threat. 9pm saw the twelfth series of Strictly Come Dancing kick off as a group of semi-familiar faces paired off with professional dancers for some light flirting and to combine their talents to get as much exposure as humanly possible.
The return of the long-running and less-mean-than-its-rivals competition saw BBC One take in 6.5 million viewers and a 29% share.
Over on Channel 4, a growing favourite also returned, as the fourth Gogglebox (9pm) came back to our screens minus the The Gilbey family from Clacton-on-Sea (they’re more Channel 5 people nowadays).
The simple concept of filming irritating family members talking over the TV with the half formed opinions once again did the trick for Channel 4, capturing1.9 million viewers and an 8% share, the channel’s biggest audience of the day.
Unfortunately, for those viewers with a fear of déjà vu, Saturday’s line up was almost exactly the same. Strictly Come Dancing enthusiastically scissor kicked its way into the nation’s living rooms at 7pm on BBC One, staying around for an entire hour and a half. The day’s biggest audience, 8 million viewers, and a 38% share tuned in to see the second half of contestants take to the stage.
Just to be a bit different, The X Factor (ITV, 8m) was on for only one hour and twenty minutes (well, we wouldn’t want to get sick of it) as the arena audience went into meltdown with the whole chair swapping fiasco. 7.2 million viewers and a 32% share watched the elongated drama.
For a bit of a change, BBC One offered up some scripted drama as Doctor Who‘s latest adventure took him to the location of the very first episode back in 1963.
In order to miss out on the big reality TV clash, this week’s episode The Caretaker (in which the Doctor hung around Clara’s Coal Hill School in order to just f**k with her personal life) went out a the latest-ever time of 8:30pm. As a result only 4.9 million viewers and a 22% share joined in on the fun.
Would you believe it – there was more demeaning fun from The X Factor on Sunday evening as, yes, the bloody six chair challenge continued, leading to so much excitement for just one weekend.
More worryingly, however, was the fact that not only had viewers not gotten sick of the shtick but Sunday’s helping actually secured the weekend’s biggest audience.
8.5 million viewers tuned in at 8pm to see wee Cheryl clash with Cowell over some interesting choices, leading to a 35% share.
Afterwards ITV tried its hand at some old fashioned scripted drama with the second episode of Downton Abbey‘s fifth series. Modern thoughts continued to infect the people of the country’s favourite place of escapism, with Lady Mary stocking up on birth control before secretive hotel meetings with Lord Gillingham.
Despite the recent scandals, Downton Abbey (9pm) remained reassuringly nostalgic, securing 7.7 million viewers and a 34% share.
Not doing quite as well was the second episode of Our Girl (9pm) over on BBC One. Starring her off EastEnders, and following on from a one-off pilot last year, the army drama saw medic Molly (Lacey Turner) settle into life in Afghanistan.
An audience of 3.7 million (down from last week’s 3.9 million) watched as the platoon walked into a mountainous trap, netting a healthy 13% share.
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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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