TV Overnights: A death in the Rovers secures 9.2m for ITV
Monday evening saw so much excitement on offer that not everyone made it through the double bill of Coronation Street (ITV, 7 and 8pm) alive.
What could have caused such a shocking turn of events? Did Gail finish Richard Hillman’s mission and drive her annoying family into the canal? Did the knicker factory blow up for the first time this year? Was the tram driver drunk again?
Sadly, none of these events took place; instead last night saw an old man died in the Rovers from pure boredom. While the branded ale™ and conversation wasn’t up to much, there was plenty going on elsewhere.
Gail’s family continued to make her question the value of life itself and Katy Armstrong grabbed life by the horns and secured herself a position in one of Weatherfield’s most promising start ups.
9.2 million people watched as Katy took up post in the Kebab shop under the watchful eye of creepy Ryan, securing a 39% share. The first episode was the night’s most watched programme, with the second visit at 8:30pm brining in 9 million viewers and a 36% share.
EastEnders hasn’t been having a great time of it recently, with strategic scheduling clashes seeing the soap frequently plummet to 6 million viewers. Monday’s adventures in misery saw Jack Branning do the unthinkable – he acknowledged there was life outside of Albert Square, painted it in a positive light and actively encouraged another character to explore it. The plotline Gods will not be pleased.
Fed up with working under Phil, Sharon actually took Jack’s advice and went for an interview somewhere foreign, a mythical place only known as the West End. There, people lunch with Liz Hurley, read Hello! Magazine and dance with charming footballers in clubs all night long.
Upon hearing his soul mate might actually be forced to take up a job OUTSIDE OF THE SAFETY ZONE and commute to work, Phil offered Sharon a stake in his depressing little club. This, in turn, angered Jack who punched Phil.
An impressive 8 million viewers tuned in to see Phil fall into the pit in The Arches, looking a little worse for wear. The soap pulled in the highest audience in its timeslot, with a 32% share. Despite being over shadowed in actual viewers by its limelight-stealing rival, Phil’s brush with death instigated many more tweets than Coronation Street.
Speaking of wastrels and oxygen thieves – at the same time Channel 4 broadcast their sensationalist-sounding enquiry Britain on Benefits: Channel 4 Dispatches ( 8pm). After fixing the food contamination crisis the previous Monday, last night’s investigative shows were forced to diverge into different topics as the country sought a new cause to rally around.
Despite its title, the Dispatches special looked at the Government’s move to cancel the Disability Living Allowance that goes out to half a million people in the UK. 1.3 million viewers watched as Ade Adepitan looked at the impact of this move, securing a 5% share.
At 8pm on BBC One was the Panorama investigation that was delayed from last week as horsies were trending better than war, apparently.
Mission Accomplished? Secrets of Helmand questions the state the Afghan forces were being left in once they were abandoned to fight off the Taliban themselves. Unfortunately for them, war is so last decade and only 2.1 million viewers (an 8% share) tuned in to learn the ‘secrets’ of the devastated country.
At 9pm on the same channel was the conclusion of everyone’s favourite voyeuristic show. Just as addictive as Big Brother (but without the horrible association that you’re making awful people famous) Penguins – Spy in the Huddle (BBC One, 9pm) wrapped up its tale of harsh conditions and frozen chicks.
Using an unprecedented amount of spy cameras, the documentary show might have proved a bit too much of the same after the recent Africa (if you ignore the whole Antarctica /Sahara discrepancy) but still held its own in the ratings.
The last hurrah with the ever growing little penguins secured a 16% share and brought in a regular audience of 3.9 million viewers.
Meanwhile on BBC Two was the feature length final episode of Dancing on the Edge (9pm) which saw Louis Lester face the music and dance. A respectable 1.8 million viewers tuned into see Louis at the centre of a bigoted murder investigations, securing an 8% share.
Rising to the criticism that the main broadcasters aren’t reflecting all aspects of British culture ITV gave voice to murderers, rapists and generally unpleasant people. The second visit to Her Majesty’s Prison: Aylesbury (ITV, 9pm) thankfully wrapped up the tale of the young offenders institute where prisoners lash out at officers with disturbing frequency.
The brutally honest account of life on the inside fell slightly week on week, with 4.9 million viewers tuning in to see the hive of scum and villainy. Who exactly this is aimed at is anyone’s guess. It was enough to drive viewers to see what was on Sky Living, just to wash the taste out. The grim reminder of the broken souls hidden from society was the most watched programme in the 9pm slot.
Over on Channel 4 at 9pm was Embarrassing Bodies, which continued to defy all known logic as more and more people queued outside the ‘clinic’ to have a vapid TV personality gawp at their dangly bits, along with a small percentage of the TV viewing nation.
The horror show, which is apparently educational on some level, saw a number of seemingly sane men and women drop their knickers for the camera as Doctors Pixie and Dawn rubbed their latex hands with glee.
Elsewhere, Doctor Christian was bothering some young people on a sunny beach by showing them images of rotting penises. Seriously, anyone else would be locked up. Can’t we go back to the good old days when educational shows were broadcast in the dead of night on BBC Two and didn’t masquerade as grotesque prime time entertainment?
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.