TV Overnights: BBC One leads Tuesday night with a sturdy audience share
The punctual drama of Christmas day in Walford continued to echo throughout last night’s EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) as Max Branning was still struggling with the small issue of the new wife he forgot he had married.
Back in the day, you could expect plenty of drama resulting from a simple family Christmas dinner in the Queen Vic without the need to venture outside the door.
But this year there was a wedding planned, a clear signal to the dullest among us that dramatic twists and showdowns would be the order of the day. You’d really think the residents of E20 would know better at this stage -planning nuptials is a dangerous game at the best of times in soap land. Pencilling it in for Christmas day in Walford means you’re asking for a whole truckload of problems.
This being EastEnders, it wasn’t long before the wedding was off (that’d be down to Max’s previously mentioned secret forgotten wife) and the jolly cast got busy burying Dirty Derek instead. 8.2 million viewers watched Tuesday’s catch up with the happy Branning clan, as Tanya put the pressure on her sort-of-husband for answers.
The urban drama secured the highest audience share in that time slot (36%) and set a trend for the entire night. From 7:30pm BBC One held onto the biggest share, uninterrupted for the rest of the night.
On ITV1 half an hour earlier, there was more spousal trouble and strife up in the Yorkshire Dales. 7 million viewers watched as former Zoe Tate squeeze, Charity had to deal with Jai’s small problem of impregnating other women, resulting in a 32% share.
This half an hour time slot is the only point on Tuesday evening that the commercial broadcaster secured a higher share than BBC’s flagship channel.
BBC One continued to secure the highest audience share in the 8pm slot with yet another episode of Holby City. The NHS may very well be in a seriously critical condition but that didn’t stop senior management taking literal flights of fancy.
Last night saw cardiothoracic surgeon Jac Taylor (her of the deathly permanent sour expression and ruler-straight crimson hair) being sent off to Sweden on an off-grid secret mission.
The perpetual sour puss was tasked with tracking down a rogue colleague in the icy wilderness, all with the aim of recovering £40 million that rightfully belonged to the UK’s most dangerous hospital.
Which makes it sounds much more exciting than it was. The latest helping of medical suspense netted 5.1 million viewers and a 21% share. The Casualty spin-off was up against Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (ITV1, 8pm) which featured the usual array of Coronation Street stars, athletes and comedians. The show, now in its 14th year, attracted a 14% share and 3.3 million viewers.
If that was all a bit too exciting or you had grown tired of watching paint dry then BBC Two had the perfect show for you. The new series of Stargazing Live (8pm) saw the Thinking Lady’s Crumpet ™ Professor Brian Cox look into telescopes and hypnotise the audience with his trademark linguistic rhythm and tones. Dara O Brian was there too.
2.7 million viewers tuned in to see O Brian cling-on, Liz Bonnin, somehow gain access to NASA mission control, resulting in a 11% share. Which led directly to Stargazing Live: Back to Earth (BBC Two, 9pm), a show which saw all the names mentioned above sit around and reflect on what they did in the previous hour.
The half hour of refection, which somehow wasn’t broadcast on an obscure digital channel, still managed to wrangle in 1.9 million unsuspecting viewers and an 8% share.
At 9pm, BBC One rolled the second series of floppy-stiff-abroad drama, Death in Paradise. Comedian Ben Millar returned as the stereotypically repressed DI Poole whose job policing a beautiful Caribbean island is made a lot harder once someone starts getting murdered every week.
An impressive 6.9 million viewers tuned in to see Poole investigate the death of a wealthy plantation owner who had one of those poisonous families that put everyone under suspicion. The breezy and bright detective show secured a 29% audience share.
Over on the other side, ITV1 armed itself with one-off documentary All You Can Eat (9pm) which focused on America’s love of super-sized meals and the growing base of people in the UK that are flying over to take part in hot dog chowing competitions and the like. 1.7 million people tuned in, with 92,000 of those watching the grease run down overweight people’s chins in glorious HD.
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.