TV Overnights: Foyle’s final war defeats BBC’s grim Village
Despite the combined force of Will.i.am’s stellar side quiff and the Eleventh Doctor’s whimsical horseplay, the day’s biggest hit came in the form of the bright and shiny commercialism of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV).
The wee entertainers went head to head with the BBC’s premium karaoke experience at 7pm on Saturday and pulled in 6.8 million viewers with their delightful brand of Geordie repertoire, resulting in a 30% audience share and the biggest audience of the weekend.
Over on the BBC, real person Jessie J, a distant Tom Jones, medicated space man Will.i.am and an intensely annoying Irish stage school youth pretending to be Bob Dylan brought us the latest round of essential twirly chair action.
The second episode of The Voice UK (7pm) hit all the expected beats, as Jessie J and Danny tried deludedly to bring a little edge to proceedings. Unfortunately they’re about as edgy as a bowl of melted jelly.
Saturday’s slice of blind singing auditions was exactly like every other audition show you’ve seen, not only on The Voice UK but every reality talent show out there, and yet it somehow secured 6.4 million viewers and 29% share. The ‘unique’ twist on the same tired format provided the BBC with the biggest hit of the day.
Earlier on the same channel, the Doctor was in danger of buckling under the weight of hype as Matt Smith and his new companion trod through fairly mediocre territory on a faraway planet with silly aliens.
The second half of series seven continued with surprising confidence as the TARDIS got our adventurers tangled in a fairly incoherent storyline, with bucket loads of bizarreness just for the hell of it.
In spite of the little slip up, fans of Doctor Who (BBC One, 6:15pm) remained loyal with an audience of 5.5 million tuning in, resulting in a 29% share.
On Sunday the line-up was very different, as viewers flocked towards altogether more sobering efforts with agriculture, antiques and all things a tiny bit dull ruling the airwaves. The excitement reached fever pitch at 7pm as the eagerly awaited new entry of Countryfile (BBC One) was finally released.
A whopping 6.3 million viewers caught up with the fantastic four as they aimed their hard-hitting magazine-style of journalism towards fields in Northampton.
Matt Baker looked at a canal, Adam looked at horses, Tom talked a bit about deer and poor Julia was dealt with the burden of covering the area’s heritage in a light, breezy yet informative manner.6.3 million viewers, Sunday’s biggest audience, clambered to see the farming fun.
But the weekend wasn’t over yet – straight up afterwards was an exciting trip to Cheltenham Town Hall with Fiona Bruce as she embarrassingly trawled through people’s possessions, hoping to make a quick profit. The rummaging-based action of Antiques Roadshow (BBC One, 8pm) secured an audience of 5.2 million and a 21% share.
If that was all a bit too much, the BBC offered up some drama to bring viewers back down to earth. The second episode of The Village (9pm) saw viewers fall by 1 million since last week’s debut. Last night the misery continued in spades as John Simm’s farmer struggled to make ends meet. 5.3 million people tuned in to feel better about their own lives, securing a 21% share.
The bleak gloom of ye olde time Emmerdale Farm was overshadowed by ITV’s two hour helping of Foyle’s War at 8pm. The final episode in the current series saw peragrump Christopher Foyle investigate a Nazi turned M15 informant, in the ever shady world or art dealing. An average audience of 5.6 million viewers stayed tuned for the entire finale, securing the 9pm slot away from BBC one.
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.