TV Overnights: 2.6m watch as Big Brother opens it’s doors
Now that the Jubilee bunting decorates the interior of your rubbish bin, the Queen’s smile has been powered off and coverage of the historic event has finally wrapped up, last night was business as usual for the UK’s TV viewing public. And what show could encapsulate the return to normality than the launch of yet another series of Big Brother? Brian Dowling’s still getting away with hosting duties (maybe he does it for free?) as the usual clichéd contestants queued up to hand their souls over to Channel 5 for the summer.
The unique characters that graced this year’s IKEA mother ship included a woman who had cosmetic surgery (!), a woman who claims to have slept with an unfaithful footballer (!), a porn star and an ex-playmate from Lewisham. So how exactly do we differentiate these housemates from the slightly more successful Celebrity Big Brother?
Spookily enough, last night’s launch attracted nearly the exact same amount of viewers as the first series of ‘normal’ Big Brother on Channel 5 in September 2011. 2.6 million viewers tuned in to see the desperate housemates attempt to outshine each other on launch night by the simple means of just talking louder. The final series of Big Brother on Channel 4 launched with 4.6 million people tuning on 6th June 2010.
A few hours earlier on BBC One and Jubilee day was in full swing in Albert Square. A day of such momentous significance as this should translate in to some awful disaster in soap land but unfortunately the writers didn’t seize the opportunity and left all characters unharmed. EastEnders provided the largest audience of Tuesday with 6.6 million people tuning in to see Peggy Mitchell’s dusty old wigs put to good use by Rose Cotton and Cora Cross, resulting in a 35% audience share.
ITV1’s 9pm offering came in the aesthetically displeasing shape of Martin Clunes, who for some mad reason was running around Madagascar, telling us of the loveable Lemur’s plight against endangerment. Many would happily leave the fate of the Cat/Monkey/Zebra hybrid in the hands of natural selection but it seems us humans can’t resist a cute cause. Doc Martin spoke with alarming passion about ‘expanding the gene pool’ as Martin Clunes: The Lemurs of Madagascar attracted 1.6 million viewers and a 7% audience share.
Despite Clunes’s inexplicable popularity over the years, his defiant one-man campaign was beaten by Horizon on BBC Two. The Transit of Venus, presented by Liz Bonnin, explored the once in a lifetime event that wasn’t a Diamond Jubilee. Last night the path Venus crossed between the sun and the earth, something that won’t be seen for over another 100 years. The Horizon special was watched by 2 million viewers, the 2nd biggest audience for BBC Two last night.
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.