TV Overnights: 2.6m get sloshed with Food & Drink’s return on BBC Two
The beginning of a fresh and shiny telly week brought us a cornucopia of history, drama and the usual nonsense in the 9pm slot.
BBC Two debuted their new period drama (aren’t they all these days?) Dancing on the Edge, a tale of jazz and struggle set in London’s swinging 1930s. Chiwetel Ejiofor, probably the most reliable actor in all of actordom, starred as the leader of a black jazz band trying to make their way to the top in a bigoted Britain.
While a worthy story in its own right, it’s hard to fight the notion that in these austerity-rich times acclaimed director/writer Stephen Poliakoff’s new five part drama was mainly commissioned just to make good use of The Hour‘s retro sets. Although they are set 25 years apart, wary prime time audiences would be none the wiser. Ultimately though, the eager band performed pretty well on their own merits, bringing in 2.1 million viewers and a 9% share.
Over on ITV, the penultimate episode of the current series of Lewis (9pm) got underway. DI Lewis (or Rob to his friend) displayed a worryingly uncharacteristic spring in his step as he hurtled towards the end. His BFF and partner in crime-solving, DS Hathaway, had returned safely from nasty old Kosovo but while he was away Lewis was knee deep in a spot of rumpy-pumpy.
Such was Lewis’ elation there was even talk of retirement, before he went the way of Inspector Morse. All the sunshine and happiness was ultimately interrupted by the usual array of academic corpses popping up. Lewis and Hathaway’s second last hurrah secured 5.8 million viewers and held onto the highest audience share for the first half an hour.
Even the dear old elitist detective couldn’t contend with the sheer force of Agnes Brown. Last night viewers witnessed a historic moment, the planets finally aligned and the current series of Mrs Brown’s Boys (BBC One, 9:30pm) at long last came to an end, joining Miranda in purgatory.
9pm saw BBC One throw up a repeat of Outnumbered in Miranda‘s place, pulling in 3.6 million people and a 15% share. This simply wasn’t enough to take on ITV and it took Mrs Brown and her gay son’s wedding to win back the biggest share. 6.4 million viewers tuned in to see Brendan O’Carroll turn the stereotypes all the way up to 11, bagging a 25% share in the process.
We’ve all found some dodgy old things down the side of a sofa but mislaying the body of the King of England is just sloppy. Five months after skeletal remains were found under a council car park in Leicester (the indignity) the good people of Silent Witness finally confirmed that they do indeed belong to Richard III.
Richard III: The King in the Car Park (Channel 4, 9pm) featured all sorts of guesswork and forensic 3D models, all in the effort to build a reliable picture from what they could. 3.3 million viewers (a 14% sare), by far Channel 4’s biggest audience of the day, tuned in discovery that the King didn’t just get extremely drunk, like the rest of us who wake up in such circumstances.
There’s a nice sense of optimism in the title of Channel 5’s relatively cheap schedule filler. If the show hadn’t been called Roy and Will: Champions of the World (9pm) it could have all been fairly depressing, watching two grown men helm a show in which they drive around the UK for no discernable reason whatsoever. 530,000 discerning viewers took to the road with Rory McGrath and Will Mellor and ended up watching them play crazy golf in Hastings among other adventures. The intrepid explorers netted a 2% share.
Earlier on BBC Two was the relaunch/reboot/remake/refandangling of much loved wine quaffing classic Food & Drink (8pm). Devastatingly, this didn’t mean there was also a revival of Quantum Leap straight afterwards too…although there seemed to be some small scale tampering of the timeline – Jilly Goolden hasn’t aged a day!
Having a chronic wine-inhaling habit must to wonders for the skin. An impressive audience of 2.6 million viewers tuned in to see Kate Goodman pick up the wine-soaked torch, netting a 10% audience share.
If this was simply all too delightful for your tastes, BBC One offered up an cheerful alternative. The double whammy of EastEnders (8pm) and a Panaorama special The Great Abortion Divide (8:30pm) attracted 8.4 million and 2 million viewers respectively. While the latest drama from Albert Square performed well, its Northern rival once again let the residents of Albert Square know who is boss.
The biggest audience of the day, 9.5 million viewers (a 39% share) tuned in to see Gail wallow in misery on Coronation Street (7:30pm & 8:30pm) following the romantic and financial disaster that was Lewis, her crusty love interest. Audience interest was still there an hour later with 9 million viewers coming back for a second helping, securing a 36% 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.