TV Overnights: Kat’s confession secures 7.2m for BBC One

The most grinding plot in recent EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) memory seemed to be finally making some kind of head way last night. After another round of secret adult time with her friendly phantasm, Kat was struggling to keep it together back in her marital home.

After some seriously disturbing behaviour (she attempted to cook a meal), Alfie approached his wife and she told him the truth. Unsurprisingly Kat did decide not to identify her special friend but suspicion has run amok in tabloid land. Is it Max Branning? Could it be Winston off the market? Surely, it’s another woman?

Could the whole thing be actually happening in her head? In fairness, the character has been through more life events that any of us would want to know about. 12 years of constant drama would eventually send you the way of Ian Beale. 7.2 million viewers tuned in to see Kat’s surprising confession, all hoping for a swift end to this particular tale. The episode reached 35% of the available audience and was the most watched programme of the day.

Earlier on ITV1, the first of a double helping of Emmerdale (7pm) won the channel’s biggest audience of the day. Chas was doing her best to ignore the many, many omens before her, telling herself there would be no repercussions from marrying some desperate bloke for the hell of it. 6 million viewers (a 31% share) watched as the bride to be had to deal with a spot of friendly blackmail. The second episode at 8pm was watched by a slightly smaller audience of 5.5 million viewers.

9pm brought viewers the third episode in BBC One’s hard hitting drama Good Cop. The tendency to lean towards a morally ambiguous protagonist has been something we’ve seen on more daring US drama in the last few years and PC Rocksavage fits that bill perfectly. Sav has taken it upon himself to clean up the streets of Liverpool, in the quickest, most brutal way possible.

3.5 million viewers (a 17% share) watched the penultimate episode last night as colleague’s suspicions were raised about our good cop’s behaviour. This was slightly bigger than last week’s audience, with last night’s instalment capturing a 17% share.

Up against Rocksavage’s vicious crusade against crime was a more subtle approach on ITV1. The Bletchley Circle returned for the second of three episodes and the group of super-smart former code breakers were growing confident that they could take down the serial killer. The 1951-set drama saw the four women attempt to lure a suspect into a trap, using one of their own as bait. 4.3 million viewers ( 300,000 up on the opening episode) watched the plan disastrously fall apart, securing a 20% share.

While the two biggest channels broadcast top notch drama in the 9pm slot, there was something a little different going on over on Channel 4. The Audience was such a ridiculous concept it was hard to be angry about it because it’s simply too difficult  to take seriously. A member of the public who is facing a personal crisis is constantly followed around by 50 strangers who observe their day to day life.

Last night featured a dairy farmer who wasn’t entirely sure if he should move on from his family’s dairy farm. 50 people followed him around. 1 million viewers watched. That’s all there is to say. And remember- somebody has been paid a lot of money for this concept.

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.