TV Overnights: Lord Alan’s return nets 6.4m viewers

EastEnders’ recent momentum continued last night, securing the biggest audience of the night for BBC One. An audience share of 27% watched the grim soap as Ben and Phil got their chance to revisit the scene of Heather’s murder and remove evidence of Ben’s involvement. Last night’s episode, which aired at 7:30pm, traumatised 8.2 million viewers as Shirley discovered her friends body, leading to a full-on meltdown.

The first apprentice show of the night saw Monty Halls, the insecure marine biologist, continue in his attempt to earn some industry respect by spending eight days and nights out the Atlantic. The Fisherman’s Apprentice with Monty Halls on BBC Two at 8pm explored the impact deep-sea trawlers cause the UK’s marine environment and brought the channel’s biggest audience of the evening, netting  1.7 million viewers.

Waterloo Road (BBC One) went head to head with Midsomer Murders (ITV1) in the 8pm slot, resulting in a close tie. Although the rural detective show lasted twice as long, both shows managed an average audience of 4.5 million viewers for their respective running times.

The Apprentice (BBC One, 9pm) came roaring back with its eight series, capturing 26% of the available audience. Lord Sugar’s quest to trawl trough 16 candidates, all of whom were expertly schooled in the skill of the obnoxious sound-bites, kicked-off like every other series. There were no drastic changes this year; the hopefuls were blessed with an abundance of over-confidence, they strutted their power suits over Millennium Bridge and were quickly ordered to the streets of London to flog their quality wares. An average audience of 6.4 million people tuned in to catch the walking clichés create cringe-inducing team names (Sterling and Phoenix!), resulting in an audience share of 26%.

Wednesday night’s visit to Leeds General Infirmary suffered slightly with Lord Alan’s return – with One Born Every Minute (Channel 4, 9pm) managing to capture a 10% audience share. 2.6 million viewers tuned in for the latest obstacles and challenges facing the midwives and expectant mothers.

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.