TV Overnights: BBC One holds strong against Champion’s League
Emmerdale (ITV) instigated a bevy of Tuesday evening’s entertainment, with the rural fun kicking things off at 7pm. And kick things off it did.
Former reverend’s daughter Gabby was struggling with the ennui brought on by living in such an isolated, boring village. In order to add a little chaos to the sleepy hamlet, Gabby brought a campaign of terror to the Dales.
As we all know, the Devil makes work for idle hands and the twelve year old hell raiser was more than happy to be the conduit of evil. Pilfering money from the needy workers at the Woolpack, slogging back a bottle vodka during nap time in school and getting caught by your teacher really brings on the wrong kind of attention.
6.6 million viewers tuned in for the latest chapter in the never ending tale of Britain’s most cursed rural area, netting a 31% share.
Straight afterwards on t’otherside was the charming tale of working class folk on EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm). In case you haven’t caught up with the soap in the past fifteen years, here’s a recap – Bianca Buthcer’s life is still completely rubbish. And she now has fifteen kids.
The London soap was up against the football coverage on ITV but managed to secure the biggest audience share (34%) across all channels.
Elsewhere in Walford, the writers continue to display complete exhaustion by continuing down the ‘Masood – Attractive to Women’ path. The storyline has seen the teaching assistant recently fight off affection from a foxy (but migraine-level annoying) temptress and trading in his unbearable long-term missus for bachelorhood.
An audience of 7.7 million watched in awkward silence as the irresistible man of charisma rubbed up keen and experienced Carol Jackson in all the right ways. The grotesque and outrageous bout of flirting helped the soap net a 34% audience share and secure Tuesday night’s biggest hit.
While EastEnders contended with half an hour of Adrian Chiles-branded banter on ITV, the UEFA Champion’s League game didn’t actual kick off until 8pm. Celtic faced off against Juventus live from Glasgow and the Italian team wasted no time in destrying their rivals. Three minutes in Matri secured the first goal, although there was a long stretch before Juventus potted the second and third in the 77th and 83rd minute.
An average audience of 4 million viewers watched the entire coverage, with a peak of 5 million viewers early on in the game. Despite an uneventful middle section the games secured an audience share of 17%.
Up against the football was the weekly trip to the halls of Holby City (BBC One, 8pm) where Michael French posed randomly hosting a very serious look in his eyes, all the while managing to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. This week’s drama brought in a dedicated fanbase of 5 million viewers and a 21% share, just piping past the match by a few thousand people.
Sunshine, perfect blue skies, exotic locales, welcoming beaches and the odd murder to sort out – Death in Paradise (BBC One, 9pm) really has nailed the perfect midweek formula. While the show is maybe just as silly and vacant as Midsomer Murders at least it is slightly more rewarding in the aesthetic sense – it’s amazing what a hint of rum can add to the procedural.
The detective show once again pulled in a sizable audience that confuses, even angers, most people. Last night saw DI Poole investigate the murder of a British woman who was married to a bully from Poole’s past life in the Met. I always find investigations are so much easier to conduct when I’m personally involved.
Home grown crime procedurals seem to have indulged in a bit of stunt casting these past few weeks. Last week international postrel Jamelia got deaded on the very same show, while Martine McCutheon was dispatched over on Midsomer Murders in a fairly unglamorous fashion. 6.2 million viewers tuned in to see if little Hannah from S Club 7 was next on the chopping board, securing the 9pm slot for BBC One with a 26% share.
Just in case you have some pleasant memories left from 2012, Channel 4 offered up a timely reminder just how crap it was with a trip down puddle lane. The documentary aggregated an impressive array of mobile clips documenting flooding disasters around the country. Children screaming in school buses, toffs trapped on top of their toff mobiles and entire villages being totally washed out helped detail last year’s near-apocalypse.
The Year Britain Flooded (Channel 4, 9pm) built a picture of a country ruined by rising sewerage and an angry god. 2 million viewers watched the tale of impending doom, resulting in Channel 4’s biggest hit of the day and an 8% share.
If that was all a bit highbrow for you, then there was always Dallas on Channel 5. Except there wasn’t – the broadcaster is so keen to show episodes right after they’ve aired in the States that they were in a bit of a quandary when it didn’t arrive on time. Instead, Channel 5 offered up the tale of the lady who got her face ripped off by a chimpanzee.
The Woman Who Lost Her Face: Extrondinary People (Channel 5, 9pm) followed Charla Nash and her pink veil of secrecy as she rallied against her horrific injuries and underwent numerous operations to reconstruct her face. 1.2 million viewers (a 5% share) watched the unfortunate woman’s story, almost as many as Celebrity Big Brother managed on a slow night.
Later on at 10pm, pulpy paranoid thriller Utopia continued to shed viewers while hitting the heights of creative weirdness. An audience of 601,000 viewers tuned in to find the identity of Mr Rabbit, resulting in a 4% 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.