TV Overnights: EastEnders falls to 4.8m viewers but BBC One still rules the night
After four weeks of horrific violence and insane logic, last night saw Luther‘s (BBC One, 9pm) third tour of duty through an alternative universe London come to a close with the grimy prime time show solely capturing viewers’ interests.
Ticking off the clichés he didn’t have time to get around to over this series, the finale saw the posing mountainous detective turn his Maverick dial up all the way to the Loose Cannon setting.
Framed for a crime he didn’t commit and tasked with protecting the woman he loved, Luther still found a few moments throughout last night’s action to pause and stare moodily at the skyline.
With his annoying lady friend in the hands of yet another serial killer (the city sure packs them in), the finale saw Luther (BBC One, 9pm) go full on Jack Bauer and work outside the law to clear his name etc.
In the end it turned out that the off-the-book nonconformist’s biggest enemy was the weather. The first episode in the current run brought in 5 million viewers, with last night’s audience falling to 4.8 million. While this was enough to secure the 9pm slot for BBC One, the live figures would probably look a lot more impressive in the darker months.
Over on ITV, someone had the bright idea of taking the general ideals of Watchdog and mobilising angry viewers into a fuming army of proactive do-gooders. Hunting the Doorstep Conmen (9pm) entered the gruelling and intense world of trading standards officers as they chased down degenerate trickers who prey on the elderly and confused.
Not quite hitting the heights of Anne Robinson’s Hour of Outrage, the show still managed an audience of 2.3 million viewers and a 10% share.
Uh oh – at the same time Channel 4 was attempting to stir up some controversy with another confrontationally-named documentary. Why Don’t You Speak English? (9pm) followed four first generation immigrants as they struggled to grasp the English language. The surprisingly gentle first part only pulled in 951,000 viewers and a 4% share.
Single handedly ensuring that every young person in Britain will get their deserved 15 minutes of fame, last night saw BBC Three offer viewers a chance to understand mental health – even though qualified investigator and philosopher Tulisa Contostavlos left no stone unturned two years ago.
Because Rachel Bruno was recently the only youth in the country that BBC Three hadn’t given a camera crew to, Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me (9pm) explored the 26 year old’s relationship with her dad (difficult) and explained how living with a bipolar condition is (difficult). The former boxer star’s tale brought in the channel’s biggest audience with 697,000 viewers.
A victim of the recent economic supernova, 8pm saw Kirstie Allsopp desperately rut through other people’s rubbish in a desperate attempt to turn a profit to put food on the table. The property expert’s psychotic episode will be spread out over the next four weeks, with the first bout of skilled rummaging netting 1.9 million viewers.
Kirstie’s Fill Your House for Free (Channel 4, 8pm) (as long as, like Kirsty, you live with a group of burley tradesmen who will graft for free) brought in the channel’s biggest audience of the day.
Kirstie’s festival of frugality couldn’t compete with Holby City on BBC One at the same time, which was watched by 4.7 million viewers and a 23% share.
Although it was a bit of a limp night all round – thrillingly, BBC One’s Regional News and Weather at 6:30pm and ITV News and Weather garnered the top two audiences of the day with 5.4 and 5.3 million viewers, respectively – the last thing EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) needed was a face-off with Emmerdale.
Due to ITV’s news programme devoting too much time to that baby, the flagship rural soap was pushed back to clash directly with BBC One’s offering. Last night Emmerdale once again dealt with the unholy trinity of Cameron, Chas and Debbie and was watched by 5.1 million viewers and a 25% share.
Any other night this wouldn’t have been a problem but Tuesday saw EastEnders struggle to perform, with half an hour of Ian Beale screaming at mentally fragile Jean Slater only bringing a miserable sized audience of 4.8 million viewers and a 24% 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.