TV Overnights: England’s Paddy’s Day victory peaks at 6.4m
Friday
If Saturday belonged to rugby then Friday night was all about the drama. Emmerdale (ITV1, 7pm) initiated the onslaught of soaps in Friday evening’s schedule with an average audience of 6.84 million viewers tuning in as Holly returned from the hospital. This was followed by the first episode of Coronation Street at 7:30pm, which secured a 38% audience share. 8.5 million watched as Peter Barlow was charged with murder, making it the most viewed programme of the entire terrestrial weekend schedule.
Over on BBC One at 8pm Heather’s hen night got underway in a suitably depressing fashion, pulling in 7.6 million viewers in the process. The characters went all out for the occasion and popped over to the Queen Vic, guaranteeing the usual mix of clumsy foreshadowing and spilt pints. EastEnders managed a 33% audience share.
The second helping of Coronation Street didn’t go down quite as well as the first (-250,000 viewers) but managed a strong 35% audience share. Leanne was more than a little annoyed when she found out Peter had an alibi for the night in question. 8.2 million viewers tuned to see if the character was wasting not only the police but the audience’s time this past fortnight.
ITV1 won the battle for the 9pm slot with Benidorm capturing 26% of the available audience. The episode featured some confusion about a kidnapping in the Spanish report and was watched by 5.8 million viewers.
Saturday
Six Nations action dominated BBC One’s daytime schedule, holding on to a steady audience throughout the afternoon. Coverage kicked off a 12:15pm with Italy squaring off against Scotland. An average audience of 2.2 million viewers watched as Italy beat Scotland 13-6.
Next up was Wales v France (2:15pm), which picked up more interest. An average of 4.3 million viewers tuned in to see Wales win the Grand Slam. Although the game was viewed by less people than the later game, the 16-9 Welsh victory scored a higher audience share of 33%.
Ireland’s dismal performance against England won the largest audience of the day for BBC One with an average of 5.7 million people tuning in to watch the entire coverage. The game secured a 31% audience share throughout, with the audience peaking at 6.4 million in the final few minutes.
If viewers were fatigued by three live rugby games in a row on BBC One, ITV1 offered up a clear escape from scrums, tries and bitter Paddy’s Day disappointments (although, the latter is nationality-dependent). Harry Hill’s TV Burp (7:30pm) provided the usual mix of songs, fighting and Heather from EastEnders and was watched by 4.7 million viewers (a 22% audience share).
The popularity of Take Me Out (ITV1, 8pm) didn’t appear affected despite Saturday’s story on Mirror.co.uk, which unveiled to the world the scandal that is Lightsgate. According to shocking exposé some of the contestants aren’t as genuine as they come across and show runners have been accused of TV fakery. Although the show’s integrity and once-solid reputation has been smeared by the revelations it did provide ITV1 with the channel’s biggest audience of the day (with 4.8 million people watching, resulting in to a 21% audience share).
Sunday
Just under seven million viewers got caught in the gravitational pull of the semi-final of Dancing On Ice (7pm) giving ITV1 the biggest audience of the day. Professional smiling person Christine Bleakley co-hosted the sparkly contest, which held onto a solid 30% audience share.
Things were slightly more sobering over on BBC One at 8pm as Fiona Bruce and the team were in York to value mostly worthless trinkets in Antiques Roadshow. The BBC institution netted an audience of 6.2 million and a 25% share.
Golden Globe-magnet Homeland continued on Channel 4 at 9pm and managed an audience share of 8%. The psychological drama starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis was watched by 2.1 million viewers, making it Channel 4’s most watched programme of the weekend.
5.7 million viewers came back for more skating fun at 9:30pm as Jennifer Ellison moved on from simply being an ex-Brookside actress to graduating to the status of ex-Dancing on Ice contestant. The Skate-Off bagged a 22% audience 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.