TV Overnights: Dancing on Ice receives a warm January embrace from viewers
The past weekend offered up a wave of childhood nostalgia that set the Twittersphere alight, far too many soaps for one night and Sunday return of a very familiar format.
Friday
Fans of convoluted plotting were spoilt for choice this weekend as Friday evening was once again dominated by the holy trinity of cost-effective soaps. Two of them even offered up a double helping, there seemed to be that much story to get through.
As usual, Emmerdale (ITV1) kicked off the high-end drama at 7pm as Charity continued to sniff around the village for clues about her partner Jai’s obvious and suspect behaviour. 7 million viewers watched as Jai figured out how to tell his missus that he was making babies with other woman, resulting in a 31% share.
Later on in Weatherfield, the sight of Lewis and Gail embracing like love sick teenagers somehow managed to attract an impressive amount of viewers. The first episode at 7:30pm saw the crafty old fox snare the unlucky-in-everything Gail in his well-manicured claws and sensuous grip.
Not only did the first trip to Coronation Street (ITV1) prove to be the day’s biggest hit but also attracted the largest audience of the entire weekend. 8.8 million people watched as Lewis stepped his plans up another notch, resulting in a 37% share. The second visit at 8:30pm fell slightly but still managed a notable audience of 7.9 million and a 32.4% share.
Meanwhile, the BBC were struggling with a touch of over-scheduling themselves. Not only were viewers treated to the usual visit to Albert Square at 8pm (Derek’s miserable funeral – a super way to kick off the weekend) but there was an After Dark special on the cards too.
An audience of 7.7 million viewers (a 33% share) watched as the Branning clan prepared themselves for Derek’s rapture in a typically over dramatic fashion.
The second episode had to be moved to a post-watershed time slot to accommodate for Derek’s reanimation as a zombie, something the BBC felt might scare younger viewers. If they survived Kat’s revelation they have the stomach for anything, really.
9pm saw the second episode lose some viewers but there were still 7 million people watching to make sure the all-round east end hard man and pleasurer of women was definitely sent to his rapture, resulting in a 30% share.
In the end, the clear winner of the most confusing change to their Friday night schedule was Channel 4. The programming was a result of what happens when desperate marketing strategies pluck yooff slang from the air and churn it into a night of conceptual television.
The Channel 4 Mash Up launched at 7pm and only existed to promote Channel 4 faces and brands that you would usually avoid like the plague by cunningly injecting elements you might like. WARNING: the following paragraphs contains promotional titles fused with a high dosage of nonsense.
Come Dine with Me Comedy Mash Up (Channel 4, 8pm) featured a bunch of low ranking comedians trodding the well-trodden formula, with hilarity ensuing. Probably. 1 million viewers tuned in for a ‘twist’ on the accustomed recipe, netting a 4% share.
Made in Chelsea Celebrity Mash Up followed in which more familiar Channel 4 faces swapped places with the dim simpletons of the reality show, netting 804,000 viewers.
I would go on but you get the idea. The biggest hitter of the wild night was the 9pm showing of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Deal or No Deal, which mercifully explains exactly what the show was about, so I don’t have to. 1.6 million people watched it.
There was bad news for Channel 5 who saw the audience for Celebrity Big Brother (9pm) fall by a whopping 46% by the second episode. A total audience of 1.8 million viewers caught up with the first 24 hours in the last chance saloon.
Saturday
Saturday brought new hope and the dawn of a soap and mash-up free weekend. CITV celebrated its 30th birthday with a much talked about Old Skool Weekend, featuring all your old favourite post-school adventures.
Woof!, Knightmare, Mike & Angelo and Super Gran all featured on Saturday but it was Finders Keepers that struck a chord with the youth of today. The room-thrashing show attracted 159,000 viewers aged four to 15, the highest show of the day, with a total audience of 411,000 viewers.
The big guns of Saturday evening’s entertainment was launched by Clare Balding as she set out to find the UK’s smartest individual.
Britain’s Brightest (BBC One, 7:10pm) saw the newly-recognised national treasure whittle down 24 contestants over six weeks using a varied combination of emotional and responsive tests to out the most genetically worthy of them. The unsettling dystopian nightmare brought in 4.9 million viewers and a 21% share.
Meanwhile over on ITV1, the light entertainment game show formula mutated into something very strange indeed. Splash! debuted at 7:15 and featured a whole hour and a half of (yes, you guessed it) celebrities competing in a diving competition. Basically, it’s Dancing on Ice but instead of dancing on ice well, the celebrities have to dive well. Got it?
Throw in some more disposable comedians, a Sugababe (11th generation, sadly) and Tom Daley himself as a judge and you have the recipe for a hit show! 5.5 million viewers (a 23% share) tuned in for the star studded diving off a board extravaganza, resulting in Saturday’s most popular show.
Take Me Out (ITV1, 8:45pm) kicked off a new series and pulled in am 18% audience share. The return of the dating show, that’s kind of like an evening in Battersea Dogs Home except you get to take home a real life ‘lass’, was watched by 4.3 million viewers.
Casualty continued to perform admirably on BBC One at 9:15pm, with 5.2 million viewers. Over on Channel 5 Celebrity Big Brother continued to stay afloat with 1.9 million viewers.
Sunday
For those that spent the weekend rolling around on the floor, in a convulsion brought on by the lack of big Saturday night realty shows – Sunday brought a ray of light to the small screen.
The eighth series of Dancing on Ice (you know – it’s exactly like Strictly Come Dancing…but with ice) licked off at 6:15pm on ITV1 with perma-grinned couple Philip Schofield and Christine Bleakley were on hand to guide us through the madness.
The main attraction pulled 7.8 million viewers into its gravity, providing a 31% share, the biggest audience of the day. Skeletal boob vehicle Pamela Anderson and Keith Chegwin were called back into the principal’s office at 8:30pm to compete in Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off.
7 million viewers watched as Chegwin (who had to pull out of the show last year when he suffered horrific injuries) was saved from the public vote, winning a 25% share.
The second episode of grimy period detective drama Ripper Street (BBC One) went out at 9pm. Last night saw Matthew Macfadyen investigating the death of an elderly toy maker.
This is to be no way confused with ITV1’s Whitechapel from 2009, which also stared an ex-Spooks star in a very similar role. The Victorian homicidal tomfoolery was watched by 5.4 million viewers and a 20% share.
Perhaps originality really is an increasingly precious commodity in the UK television landscape. Just as ITV made Ripper Street seem slightly stale, the commercial broadcaster’s highly publicised Mr Selfridge (ITV1, 9pm) arrived last night among an overwhelming sensation that we’d seen it all before.
Despite the uncountable similarities to last year’s well- received BBC period retail lady drama The Paradise, the story of a dashing young American attempting to set up shop on Oxford Street pulled in an impressive 6.8 million viewers.
Whether the audience responds this well over the next few weeks remains to be seen, but last night’s 27% share indicates the nation has not yet had their fill of nostalgia and sparkly things.
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.