TV Overnights: ITV uncovers The Guilty with 2.9m viewers
After a bevy of hard hitting child-murdering dramas ruled the airwaves for the first half of 2013, viewers had to deal with a bit of a drought as we approached the end of the year.
Thank god then for ITV’s The Guilty, which wrapped up after three weeks last night, giving starved viewers their much needed fix of infanticide.
The first episode of the crime thriller – starring Tasmin Grieg as a lady detective struggling to keep all those unprofessional emotions at bay while investigating the disappearance of a child – pulled in 3.6 million viewers three weeks ago but the audience has been slipping slightly since.
The Broadchurch-esque carry-on unfolded across two timelines, throwing in a bit of Lightfields too for good measure. 2.9 million viewers tuned in to discovery who exactly slaughtered little Danny Lollypop, securing a 13% share.
But it was BBC One that won the 9pm slot, offering up a real-life tragedy for entertainment-starved viewers to sink their teeth into. The Honeymoon Murder: Who Killed Anni? saw intrepid man of the world Jeremy Vine patch together some rumour and speculation to decide the fate of a real person who is currently sectioned under the mental health act.
Some lacklustre naysayers might say guesswork-based shows – involving the lives of real people – is extremely irresponsible programming, but those people don’t have to compete with another child murder. 3 million viewers watched as the details about the ill-fated honeymoon unfurled, securing a 14% share and the biggest audience of the prestigious time slot.
Over on BBC Two there was the second episode of revered period drama Peaky Blinders (9pm). The brummie show had a fine cast, an interesting story to tell and some high praise for its execution – unfortunately the title of the show still sounded really, really silly. 2 million viewers tuned in to see local rascal Cillian Murphy outsmart the law – represented here in the form of Sam Neill – resulting in a 10% share.
The decimation will be televised – last night Channel 4 continued to broadcast the collapse of civilised society into a nightmare apocalyptic scenario where everyone speaks in unintelligible riddles and children dress like drags queens.
Yes, that’s right – it was time to visit sunny Dewsbury and give misbehaving little pricks the spotlight in Educating Yorkshire (9pm). Once again the programme focused on two little tyrants ruining the educational experience of everyone within a ten metre distance.
The relatively low cost genre of observational documentary seems to be taking over Channel 4 at the moment and it’s easy to see why. 2.8 million viewers tuned in to reminisce about the golden age of education, securing the channel’s biggest audience of the day and a 13% share.
Meanwhile in soap land, there was a hint of war in the air as a solo outing to Walford had to compete with a double combo of Yorkshire Dales action.
First up was Emmerdale (ITV) at 7pm and there was danger afoot as Debbie Dingle got wired up and attempted to get three murder confessions from her unhinged boyfriend. The first hit of picturesque village life secured 6.5 million viewers and a 34% share.
An hour later, the ruse turned into a hostage situation as Cameron twigged the set up. Despite the tension levels rising steadily, viewers trailed off slightly for the second episode, netting 6.2 million viewers and a 28% share.
Sandwiched in between on the other side was BBC One’s flag ship soap EastEnders, once again wielding the flag of victory. 6.7 million viewers watched as various bottle blondes with extremely complicated relationships got a bit gobby with one another, netting an 33% 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.