TV Overnights: BBC’s Prisoners’ Wives takes down ITV’s midwife
Marital trouble and strife was on the cards across Thursday’s offerings with a double helping of Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm & 8pm) kicking things off. Last night saw the loose morals of certain village residents come back to haunt them.
Overcome with guilt and angst, Charity turned a civilised dinner party into a fairly awkward affair by announcing to husband Jai that she had slept with host Declan Macey. These soap characters sure choose their moments. 6.5 million viewers watched the revelation in the first episode, pulling in a 31% share.
8pm saw the drama escalate as a rather peed off Jai confronted his over sociable compère about his bed hopping antics. Declan’s behaviour seems even more awful when you consider his poor new wife Katie recently spent nearly a week crawling around muddy old mining tunnels fighting for her life. In fairness, she seems to have gotten over that fairly quickly. It’s becoming clear these people are dependent on a bit of danger.
6.1 million people tuned in for the confrontation, resulting in a 27% share and securing a strong start to the evening for ITV. Perhaps next week we’ll see someone sit down to a meal without any life-changing consequences.
For one, life over in Walford seemed calm and reasonable by comparison. Bianca Butcher’s never ending struggle against life continued as her son Liam remained on lockdown after joining a gang of body-popping tough guys, collectively known as The Warriors.
Finally out of the shadow of Coronation Street‘s week of high drama, Thursday night proved to be EastEnders‘ time to shine as the soap pulled in an average audience share of 33%. 7.3 million viewers tuned in to see mortal enemies Phil and Tanya do one of those 180 degree turnarounds that is so typical of soap characters and go on a date. The latest slice of soap ‘realism’ was the most watched show of the day.
Up against EastEnders and sandwiched in between the wheaty goodness of Emmerdale a s sensationalist look at the state of the healthcare system by those seasoned pros on Tonight (ITV, 7:30pm). Proper journalist Fiona Foster took a peak behind hospital curtains in Has the NHS Stopped Caring? which says it all really. 3 million viewers tuned in for the answer, which was…well, it’s a bit complicated really. The investigation pulled in a 14% share.
The bitchy glares were out in full at 9pm as the second series of Prisoner’s Wives continued. Last night saw lovely little old Anne Reid pop up as a dodgy money launderer as Fran raided a Clare’s Accessory’s truck to fund her addiction to silly wigs.
The crime drama, focusing on strong female characters, improved slightly on last week’s opening episode with 4 million viewers (a 19% share) tuning in. The tale of the long-suffering spouses easily walked away with the 9pm slot.
Attempting to do its best for ITV was the latest cheap and cheerful programme about new-borns and the women tasked with delivering them safely. Blame Call the Midwife or the highly cost-effective One Born Every Minute but filming brand spanking new screaming infants (and the mess that comes with it) seems to be all the rage these days. Home Delivery (ITV, 9pm) was a one-off documentary which followed a midwife in Kent going about her stressful business.
Max Beesley, a man not shy about lending his soft northern tones to flog just about anything, guided us through Virginia’s busy schedule, from the safety of his artiste’s recording booth. Despite the apparently insatiable appetite for placentas and uterine mucus, the show only managed to attract 1.6 million viewers and a 7% 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.