TV Overnights: Albert Square’s newest friendship attracts 7m viewers for BBC One
EastEnders captured Thursday’s biggest audience, netting a 35% audience share. Last night saw the arrival of city boy Danny Pennant, played by The Bill and Footballers’ Wives actor Gary Lucy. And he’s just in time too, as Syed needs a friendly ear.
After continually lying to and stealing from his family Syed had pushed himself in to a corner and now has to come up with £9,000 or a cockney caricature will get angry. New bloke on the Square Danny provided calm and sensible advice (which is fairly rare around those parts) and Syed probably appreciated the help a little too much. 7 million viewers watched to see if the troubled market worker was barking up the wrong tree, securing a 35% share.
Double episodes of Emmerdale saw ITV1 peak early in the evening. The first episode at 7pm was watched by 6 million viewers (a 32% share) but the audience fell for the second episode. 5.5 million tuned in as Cameron and Carl continued their spat over cash, reaching 25% of the available audience.
The Corrie Years at 8:30pm brought us kicking and screaming down Weatherfield’s memory lane. The latest episode of the clip show focused on the young cherubs who have grown up in front of the nation’s eyes. To quote Shakespeare ‘Time travels in divers paces with divers persons.’ And on last night’s evidence, time must have a bit of vengeance against Steve McDonald.
Watching the fresh faced teen pin-up lord around the street with a full head of slicked back hair was more psychologically distressing than anything Channel 4 could put Keith Allen through. More disturbing however was the sight of a flirty 16 year old Gail – all smiles, teeth and confidence. 3.1 million viewers tuned in to watch time take its toll on the weathered characters, resulting in a 14% share.
In the 9pm slot on ITV1 was Homefront, taking a look at the hardships of army wives and the everyday domestic battles they fight in their husband’s absence. The drama didn’t waste any time pulling punches with Misfits star Antonia Thomas receiving some devastating news quite early on.
Homefront had a bit of an odd tone, as if ITV had thrown the communal hysteria of Desperate Housewives and a very serious drama with decent cinematography into the blender. While repeatedly hitting the pulp button. 3 million viewers watched the first episode of the six part series, reaching 14% of the available audience.
In the end, it was Kirsty Young and her crime solving helpers that secured the 9pm slot for BBC One. Crimewatch, which in now in its 28th year, attracted 4 million viewers and captured a 19% share.
After the high comes the inevitable comedown and Channel 4 was feeling it last night. In the second part of this controversial experiment, Jon Snow and a sofa of experts examined the long term effects of MDMA. The second episode saw a huge comedown in viewers too – the fair weather audience was down a massive 52% since Wednesday night, proving things may have got a little too real. 769,000 people (a 5% share) watched as actor Keith Allen insisted his drug use has been exaggerated, all the while twitching in an odd fashion.
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.